Wayward
by Aeiri
Summary: [AU]Aerei Skyel was nothing like your average pureblood noble. She would not be the successor to the Skyel family, as she knew ever since she was just a child. Not because she was weak, or too outspoken to be a family leader. Rather, similar to Rael Kertia's situation, Aerei Skyel had an older brother. Pairings: OCxLazark OCxFrankenstein(later). Contains lots of OCs.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: THIS STORY REVOLVES A GREAT DEAL AROUND MY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS AND HAS A LOT OF RANDOM FLUFF BETWEEN FAMILY. IF YOU DO NOT ENJOY A LOT OF OC'S THAT COME WITH BACKSTORIES AND FLUFF, AND LONG ROUTES TO THE ROMANCE PART, THEN DO NOT READ THIS STORY AND CLICK THAT BACK BUTTON. THANKS.**

Pairings: OCxLazark and OCxFrankenstein(much much farther into the story)

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Prologue

Aerei Skyel was nothing like your average pure blood noble. She would not be the successor to the Skyel family, as she knew ever since she was just a child. Not because she was weak, or too outspoken to be a family leader. Rather, similar to Rael Kertia's situation, Aerei Skyel had an older brother.

Now Aerei was raised as any pure blood noble should have been raised, if that is to say there is a specific way nobles are raised. An air of beauty, elegance, mystery and power seemed to be what humans might think of when encountering a noble, or rather "vampire" as they are more widely known as in this day and age, if not for the gripping emotions of fear and surrounding superstition regarding "vampires". Yes to a point Aerei had these traits simply because she was born a noble. When her mouth was devoid of words, her argent-grey locks daintily hanging over her left shoulder and her ruby red irises focused on gazing into the far distance beyond, might be the time she presented the most beauty, elegance, mystery and power for herself, keyword being "might".

Aerei was merely one hundred and eighty years old, still quite young for a noble, patiently awaiting her coming-of-age ceremony. She acted more like a human if anything, that is not to say that all humans do not possess beauty, elegance, mystery and power. Though not requiring sleep, Aerei would often get caught in daydreams during her free time, or she'd feel "tired", because of her life in Lukedonia? Or because she'd simply just felt tired, a feeling that seemed like nobles did not feel or understand. Her eyelids would flutter close and she'd fall into what seemed to be the human unconscious state of sleep.

She often dreamed of the human world, ever changing, fast paced, never stopping. So unlike Lukedonia where it seemed as if life and time were frozen into place. A second passing in the human world might be like five hundred years passing in Lukedonia. The Skyel family merely did not trust Aerei to go into the human world, yet. She was too reckless, playing around too much with Karias, along with her happy-go-lucky personality. Aerei freely showed her emotions, a stark contrast to the Skyel family who were so far against presenting any emotion in most situations. For so she stayed and toiled her days away training in the Skyel combat style. If Aerei could not go to the human world she hoped to at least meet a human and befriend them. She had heard of a human who was staying at the noblesse's mansion and served the noblesse, who went by the name "Frankenstein". She had longed to meet this human. Aerei frequently asked around her family and other nobles about this "Frankenstein", though nothing positive really seemed to surface about him. According to the information she had received he was deemed "powerful", rivaling a family leader's power, and "arrogant". Most of all she had heard about the length of time he had spent on Earth, which was nothing at all like the human's lifespan she had been taught about, and somewhere among the stories from the nobles, she had heard Frankenstein had committed atrocities against humans, his own kind. Nothing into detail, for the nobles were hush-hush regarding those stories when near the children, since they were rumors that had been passed down from humans through many generations, except for the fact that the humans were after his blood.

Rather than scaring Aerei Skyel, this piqued her interest. She wanted to meet this man called Frankenstein. Though she had not even met the noblesse, Cadis Etrama di Raizel, before nor had she even seen his mansion. She fell deeper into thought about this human and wondered until she was fully satisfied.

And so begins the story of myself, Aerei Skyel.

Chapter 1

I endlessly jumped from branch to branch, narrowly avoiding the smaller branches that stuck out from the larger branches, their purpose seemingly to get caught on my clothing so as to make me stumble and rip my clothes. The purpose of this mind-numbing training was to increase my agility and dodging ability to move in quick succession in tight spaces.

Similar to the Kertia family, the Skyel family specialized in stealth and speed. The Skyel family members were trained to be more skilled in either close or far ranged combat depending on preference. Some members were more competent in close combat, and others in far distanced combat. Though in contrast the Skyel's used throwing knives, needle-like metal stakes and short swords, which are considered the most notable tools of use of the Skyel family. In modern day terms, the Skyel family may be described as "ninja-like". The family heirs were trained to be competent in both types of combat.

I immediately stopped my movement and listened into the quiet summer forest. I sensed a nearby presence and several projectiles aimed in my direction at pin-point accuracy. I sighed outwardly, expressing my annoyance, the assailant none other than my elder sibling, Kairen Skyel. I used the branch I stood on as leverage to flip myself in order to the dodge the projectiles. I quickly grounded myself and hid behind the trunk of the tree. "What is it Kairen," I said flatly. I was not in the mood to tolerate his playfulness today.

He landed gracefully beside me and cocked his head to side. His short argent-grey hair gently rustled by the slight breeze, scarlet irises trained on my being, and his lips turned up ever so slightly. "Ohh, the usually happy-go-lucky sister of mine sounds upset." He placed a hand on his hip and looked at me questioningly.

I rolled my eyes, arms crossed against my chest, returning his questioning gaze with a glare.

"Ooo, that's a scary look you got there."

"You're not one to usually show your happy side." I shook my head in disappointment. "I thought the future family leader would be more competent in regards to controlling his emotions."

"So I can't even act like this comfortably around my little sister now? That's cold," he continued to joke around as he kicked a pebble from under his foot. "Anyway, what are you doing here. Still wanting to stumble across that human on 'accident'?"

I turned my body so I was directly facing him and began stammering. "N-No! That's none of your business! And aren't you supposed to be training, why are you even following me around like a creep!" I snapped back.

"Ouch." He feigned a teary-eyed, heartbroken face. "I miss my cute little sister who'd chase me around the house calling me 'older brother, older brother', asking me to carry her on my shoulders." He wiped a tear from his cheek that never even existed.

I swiped at him with my hand. "Y-You! Stop bringing that up! That was a hundred and thirty years ago!" At this point my face was a painted a bright red, my heart racing in embarrassment and fists clenched, ready to sock him in the face.

"Oops too slow!" He twirled in a circle away from my fists.

I turned away angrily and stomped my foot on the ground. I heard his innocent laugh chime in the background.

"You really can't control your emotions can you? I was just teasing, sorry about that." He smiled and reached out and placed a hand on my head. "You really are like a human aren't you, lacking any form of elegance-"

I attempted to trip him, though I knew it was futile and he'd just dodge it. "Oh will you shut your mouth. I know you didn't come here just to make fun of me especially when you're so busy right now." I glanced at him from the corners of my eyes and watched him expectantly.

He gracefully landed again, much farther than his first position. His smile faded and his voice took on a much more serious tone. "Father wishes to see you, he's currently with the lord. He asked to see you in the audience hall."

I unclenched my fists and examined my hands. There were clear nail marks embedded into the palm of my hand. "Oh." I pursed my lips and stared blankly at my hand for a few moments until Kairen took my hand.

"Let's go." He gently tugged my hand and smiled at me lightly before we both took off in the direction towards the castle at break-neck speed.

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 **Author Ramblings:** Thanks for the reviews, I'll edit according to your reviews. Other than all that, this is my first time in this community as I never really used this account beforehand, as well as this being my first fanfiction posted on this website. I honestly wrote this fanfic mostly for myself. I've been debating or not whether to even share this with anyone, I may or may not upload the rest of the chapters, or may even delete this story depending on feedback. Since this story revolves more around my OC's, especially during the beginning, I didn't and still don't think anyone would or will be interested at all. /I feel like absolutely no one will enjoy or read this story so whatever c: Apologies for any grammatical and spelling errors, I'm not good at English. Also the main character's name is pronounced "EhRay" (Not the pronunciation of the Canadian way of saying "Eh", but if you were just to read it the way it was written. If that makes any sense. If not then just read her name however you like.)

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 **Background Story Information**

 **Details:** AU because of some changes to the original story-line, but still has Lukedonia, Korea, Nobles, etc. The story mostly contains a lot of interaction between my OC's during the beginning chapters of the story. Other characters in the manhwa do make appearances, but will do so later on. There are also romance elements, but much farther into the story. I've written this assuming nobles do not normally sleep unless they absolutely have to, such as to recover from injuries (like when Regis got beat up by Lazark and knocked out on the floor after Rael said he would train him in his brother's stead), or I guess if they just really want to, like my OC.

 **Setting:** This is set quite a few years before Seira and Regis were sent to Korea, but instead I've had Rai woken up before that and currently they're staying in Lukedonia, later on the characters (Frankenstein, Rai, Seira, Regis) will all be in Korea attending school. Just to make it easier, let's just say that Frankenstein already has the school set up there, but has someone else attending to it.

 **POV:** First person omniscient. Omniscient parts are bolded. - I most likely incorrectly used this POV, but please keep an open mind. The way I intended to use this POV was to explain some of the other character's thoughts, feelings, and actions, specifically for the reader, and not the main character herself.

 **How I intended the POV to work:** I've used this POV in a way that only I can understand how I used it. By that I mean, the main character doesn't necessarily know other characters' exact thoughts and intentions. The omniscient parts are mainly to provide more depth into the feelings of other characters, for the reader. It's like there's a version of her looking back on/watching her actions and those around her (or an external version of her, who is a spectator), knowing the other characters' thoughts and feelings, who explain how the other characters felt, what they thought, or what they did, for the reader. - So you kind of know the idea I had as I kept writing. It makes sense in my head but is difficult to explain so others understand. This probably doesn't help you to understand what I'm thinking, but I'll leave it here.

Try and imagine if there was a version of you that existed in an alternate universe (that you have no way of interacting with, and didn't know existed), who can see your actions and the actions of those around you (spectating), knowing the thoughts and intentions of those who are (or will be) involved/have interacted with you.

 **Important additional POV info:** When I started writing this, I didn't specifically plan for the story to be written as first person omniscient. I've found that it's sketchy to be writing a story in this POV and I'm sure I'm using this POV the wrong way. I don't feel like going back and changing the POV to third person omniscient as I am already 30k+ words into the story. I hope you'll understand. This bummed me out and now I feel like scrapping the story. I'm very tempted to remove this story now that I've noticed this fatal error. A reminder to please keep an open mind about the POV. Thanks.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When we arrived at the castle I had forgotten I was still holding onto Kairen's hand, it was only until he let go that I realized.

"Go on, he's waiting." Kairen gently pushed my back and I stumbled towards the large double doors.

I looked behind me worriedly searching Kairen's face for some sort of consolation. When father wanted to see me, it usually was never a good sign. I rarely even saw father since he was so busy tending to Kairen and his succession to the family. Because of this, I usually learned by watching Kairen train, I was never especially given special attention to, well by my parents anyway. Kairen gave a small smile and waved. That alone was enough to give be a small burst of confidence to push the doors open. I stepped into the large hall immediately feeling so so small. I heard father call for me, my name echoing throughout the hall.

"Aerei."

"Yes father." I approached him with steps that appeared to be confident, but they were steps that were just barely faltering. I stood before him and bowed, I raised my head and looked up at him.

"Take this to your mother."

"Yes." I took the envelope out of his hand. "Is that all?"

My father had stared at me long and hard. I resisted the urge to look away or fidget under his scrutinizing glare. His gaze softened ever so slightly. "Well done."

I widened my eyes in surprise. I almost believed that my ears were playing a trick on me. I had not heard my father praise me in many years. "For…?"

"I noticed how hard you've been training these past years." I could have believed my eyes almost fooled me as well, seeing the corner of his lips just barely turn upwards, though the slight smile was gone just as quickly as it appeared. "I also noticed how your behaviour has changed as well. Very unlike you, being unhappy. I'm sorry your mother and I could not have been with you more. Kairen as well. Your mother and I, we know that you are quite close to Kairen."

"I'd never be close to that bumbling idiot. Plus he stinks-" I muttered under my breath, my cheeks turning a rosy pink. Though that was the complete opposite of what I felt. Expressing emotions like these were too embarrassing and I'd deny them quite often when someone spoke of them. I relied on Kairen quite a bit in all honesty. The two of us were considered quite strange in the Skyel family, even among the nobles, since us two had expressed our emotions all the time and usually never had trouble showing them to others, though Kairen had more control over his compared to me.

"Aerei," he sternly pronounced as his gaze hardened once again.

I bowed my head in apology, slightly fearful, "I sincerely apologize. I did not mean that."

He sighed outwardly and shook his head with a small smile. "Though that does sound much more like you."

I looked up and smiled in return.

"We all hope you understand the situation. Kairen had also personally asked me to speak with you. I know most of the times we have spoken were not pleasant, especially regarding your reckless behaviour- That is besides the point."

I grumbled at that last sentence, but was still surprised that Kairen had asked father to speak with me. Kairen knew I had rocky meetings with father and I hadn't been myself as of late, but I hadn't expected him the speak to father personally.

"Your mother and I are proud of you. I hope you know that."

I had never thought I'd hear those words directly come from my father's mouth, especially with how our relationship had been going. I bowed my head to hide my teary eyes. In truth, I felt touched beyond words, not only because my father was saying this, but due to the nature of the Skyel family as well. I knew this would be very difficult for him to express. I squeezed my eyes shut and my breath quivered ever so slightly. "Thank you father, mother." I whispered to my father and to myself.

My father reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder. I look up and wrapped my arms around my father to show my appreciation. I sniffled slightly and grinned, letting the tears fall freely down my face.

These past few years had been extremely difficult for me, I had felt like I was outcasted in the family. No one looked at me, not even then person who was closest to me, my own brother, Kairen. I knew he was busy, but it was painful. I did of course see him from time to time, very briefly. Slowly I became much colder towards him, and snapped at him more often than I'd like. The loneliness and frustration slowly taking a toll on me. It was so very difficult and painful. Nobles should be able to live even without contact from others in theory, but to me, it was torture. Rarely anyone spoke back to me when I attempted to have a conversation with them. Even mother and father would dismiss my words. I buried myself in training in response. Training harder than I had ever done so before. It helped me to release the frustrations no one had an ear for. I studied and learned from those most skilled in the family since my parents were busy with Kairen. As a result, the only contact and interactions I had with other nobles were those who were helping me train. I had let out a lot of my feelings and anger towards them, and one by one they would avoid me and drift away. I'd watch from the sidelines, watching father train Kairen, and that was how I'd been learning these past years. I had never felt so alone in my life.

My father was dumbfounded with what to do at first. He had gently rested his hands on my shoulders in response and smiled down at me.

I pulled away from him quickly and looked down, wiping my tears away. "I apologize father." I looked up at him, eyes still watery as my smile trembled slightly.

"No need to apologize." That was the first time I had seen a full on smile on my father's face. " Remember to take that envelope to your mother, and do not be too hard on yourself."

I nodded in response since it was difficult to produce any audible words.

Several knocks were heard at the door all of a sudden and the lord's resounding voice. "You may enter."

I bowed quickly to my father and rushed out in order to let the person entering meet the lord. I glanced over to the person who had just knocked on the door prior to entering. He had long blonde hair and bright cerulean eyes, and in front of him I realized another person had also entered with the man with blonde locks. The other person I felt immense power from, a noble. He had jet black hair, similar to the lord, and his hair was much shorter compared to the blonde. I stepped out of the large auditorium and sighed a breath of relief. I began to wonder if that guy with blonde hair could be the human everyone called "Frankenstein". I stood with my back to the door, eyes closed to comprehend the events that had just taken place. My mind was still reeling, I was so happy, I fought to keep my tears from falling again and continuously breathed deeply to calm myself down, until I felt someone blowing air on my face. My eyebrow twitched in automatic response, since I knew it was Kairen.

I opened one eye to look at him. "What are you doing." It was more of a statement rather than a question.

"Is that how you should be treating me after so long? We haven't spent any quality time together for a long time." He pouted and leaned back.

I moved away from the doors and looked at him in disgust while walking. "Stop acting like that, it's creepy."

He just laughed in response. "So how'd it go?" He asked while he walked alongside me with his arms behind his head.

"Better than expected…" I mumbled quietly, my cheeks immediately flushing. "Thanks…" I whispered reluctantly.

Kairen turned towards me in curiosity. "Hmm, what was that, I couldn't hear you." He sang playfully.

"N-Nothing!" I whacked him in the face with the envelope and walked faster. "Jeez, you've been acting a lot more playful than normal."

He slowed down until he eventually stopped walking, letting his arms rest at his side. "I'm sorry it took a long time for me to notice and that I've been so busy."

I continued to walk a few steps forward until I heard his voice behind me. I turned my head back to look at him. Kairen had a serious expression on his face, I peered into his eyes and could sense guilt dancing among his ruby irises. I turned to fully face him and looked down. "It's not your fault."

"I knew you'd say that." I heard a hint of sadness in his voice. "The two of us, even for siblings as nobles, we're quite close, almost like twins. Everyone thinks we're strange since we're similar and don't really act like nobles. Especially of the Skyel family." He shrugged his shoulders chuckled lightly.

I lifted my head slightly to examine his expression. He had hidden his emotions well, in terms of facial expressions. Kairen and I had grown up together, we knew about each other more than anyone else and could usually sense what the other was feeling.

"I guess that's true." I pondered. "Though you've gotten better at concealing or controlling your emotions. Makes you seem more like a noble." I grinned at him.

He strode up to me and we continued to walk together. "Hey, don't say 'makes me seem like', I am a noble and one that's going to become a family leader at that. If anyone here isn't a noble, it's got to be you." He retorted matter-of-factly. "And actually, it seems you haven't improved in that aspect at all."

I could feel Kairen's side glance burning into my head. "Yeah, yeah. Controlling emotions. Skyel family. Hmph."

"It helps when training or fighting you know."

"I'll work on it."

"I'll spar with you if you'd like." _As repayment for leaving you alone for so long_ , was the unsaid thought that hung so clearly in the air.

I felt a twinge of sadness run through me. How long had it been since I had last sparred with Kairen. Most likely more than fifty years. Fifty years was nothing to a noble, but I had spent all that time away from someone who I was close to. Yes I got along with the nobles who were my age but because of my strange personality it was hard to get close to any of them, and they were obviously closer to those whom they had grown up with.

"You sure you won't lose?" I challenged him.

"Ohh, we're doing that now? I'll take you on." His confidence and ego surrounded him like a blanket, and he pulled that cocky smile he always had gazing directly at me.

"Fine, you better not cry when you lose." I jabbed his waist and dashed off to deliver the envelope.

"Pssh," was all he said as he took off after me.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

We stood apart in a small forest clearing where we thought we wouldn't be a disturbance to anyone.

I stared at him from across the field, mentally preparing myself and, my mind running through the training I underwent. "You better not go easy on me!" I yelled.

Kairen lifted his arms up into a shrug. "Why would I go easy on my baby sister." He glared at me with dangerous eyes. "Sometimes I just want to squeeze those cheeks of yours with all my strength."

"Like I'd ever let you do that." I scoffed.

He was at least two hundred years older than I, he had had more time to train, along with more experience. I knew I was at a disadvantage, especially since he had also been trained by father. But I wouldn't let that get me down. Training Kairen was the priority for the Skyel family since he was to succeed as family leader, and because of that, I had not received any direct training from my parents thus far. Both Kairen and I were extremely competitive which got us caught up in many problems when we were younger.

We continued to stare at each other from across the field, with no warning I felt him release his power. Within seconds he was in front of me. I swiftly brought my arms up to block just barely in time. I felt his palm contact my forearms with immense strength and was pushed back several meters.

"Oh ho, you've gotten much faster with your reaction times." He raised his head and looked at me with a smug expression..

I bit my tongue to hold back the barrage of retorts I wanted to spew at him. I closed my eyes breathed in deeply. I pulled on the throwing knives hidden on each side of my thighs, dual wielding them. Kairen had approached me once again with insane speed, this time his short sword drawn. I responded to all his swipes and attacks in perfect succession. Unlike Kairen, my preferred tools of use in close combat were either daggers or throwing knives, a contradiction for their supposed use, that's not to say I wasn't skilled with the short sword.

"Not going to reply? Hmm, that's different."

I attempted to swipe at his legs when the timing was right so as to slow down his movements.

"Ah ah, you can't do that." He had flipped into the air with ease, easily reading my attacks, landing gracefully in front of me. The expression that plagued his face just calling me to punch him.

Kairen cocked his head to the side, his hair falling over his right eye. His lips turned up into a smirk, "I know that's not all you have." He lowered his sword as if taunting me. "Why don't you come at me with all your strength?" He shrugged as if he was already done with this battle.

My anger was on the edge of my control, I barely kept it in check. I had not sparred with Kairen in years, this time I'd show him what had been going on those past fifty years, now was not the time to let my rage take control. I lowered my body and dashed towards him, I closely circled him before jumping into the air. My movements would have been too quick for the human eye to see. I landed and began to continuously assault Kairen with various swipes, slowly increasing my speed, inching him backwards. He blocked my attacks. A normal person would not have been able to tell my movements were a tad bit faster than his reflexes due to the nature of dual wielding.

"Hmm, not bad." His eyes widened in surprise and he jumped back abruptly. "When did you throw those?" He questioned.

In the spot he was just previously standing in were several needle-like stakes and smaller throwing knives wedged into the ground.

"I didn't see her throw those." He muttered to himself. Kairen stayed on guard and watched my every movement, raising his sword slightly.

I had just blinked and he was already before me, sword poised to slash. He knocked my throwing knives out of my hands. I barely had time on grab the short sword on my back to hold him back. Slowly he was overwhelming me with his speed. Kairen was much more skilled with a sword compared to myself. Between his assaults I grabbed a throwing knife that was hidden on my lower back and used it to slash at him when he lowered his guard. Kairen barely had time to react, moving away quickly enough so it was just a scratch on his cheek.

He touched his cheek in surprise, blood staining his fingers. "Not bad, you've improved a great deal."

I positioned myself and smiled in return. "Thanks." Now I knew he wouldn't go easy on me.

Kairen began to move swiftly enough in circles, so it was difficult for even me to see his movements. His presence had all of a sudden disappeared and in my surprise, I felt a sharp pain run down my back. I always had trouble masking my presence while continuously moving. I flipped into the air behind him, feeling his intent to attempt to swipe at my legs. With zero hesitation, I charged towards his back, though it was a feint. He turned towards me and prepared to block from the front. I quickly changed directions and slashed at his left thigh from the side. I jumped several meters away from him and threw throwing knives towards him. From then, it was a flurry of limbs, knives and swords.

He had used brute strength to surprise me during our fight, leaving a significant crater in the ground. I had jumped out of the way in time and looked down from my position in the air. I was taken in by surprise with the amount of strength he had attained. Skyel's were not known for possessing great strength. This had caused several nobles and passerbyers to take notice of our fight.

"Now's not the time to be impressed."

I heard his whispered voice from behind as he kicked my back. I was sent flying straight down to the ground. By this point, we had several spectators.

I face planted into the dirt, wincing in pain as I slowly gathered my bearings and stood up.

"Ooo, wasn't that a bit harsh Kairen?" Karias shouted from the sidelines. "You're going to ruin her cute face!".

As always, Kairen landed gracefully in front of me, clutching his sword, ready to receive a surprise attack. "Ready to give up yet?"

"Give up? To a creep like you?" I readied my throwing knives and sword. "I think not." I easily blocked the projectiles he had thrown at me, but did not expect him to close the gap and strike with his sword.

"Aww stop calling me a creep. You know it hurts your older brother when you say that." He joked while applying more strength to his sword.

I glared at him with disgust. "When you act like that." I feigned gagging expressions.

Little by little, he was overpowering me with his strength. I fell back to the side and angled my sword so his would slide to the right. I used this time to jump away to the left while throwing knives at him. He didn't bother to block them, he just weaved through them and dodged, aiming to close the gap between us. He had already caught up to me, and shoved me onto the ground. The pressure he used on his sword had increased. I was beginning to struggle in blocking his sword. I knew I'd lose if he kept at this. I brought my knee up to his stomach. Kairen shifted in response, weakening the strength he had on his sword giving me time to slide his sword away and make a getaway. I leaped backwards several times and looked over to the sidelines. I could see Karias, Seira, Regis my father and the people I had seen in the audience hall earlier, the blonde and the black-haired men.

"Hmm I didn't expect that." He was still kneeling, looking down on the ground, his sword wedged into the dirt. He slowly lifted his face to look at me and his gaze softened. "You've really improved, during that time I was away from you."

I stood poised, and turned back towards Kairen, trying to keep my composure, so as to not let emotions affect my fighting. My breath had hitched when I met his gaze. It was difficult for me to fall back into those feelings and remember that I felt so alone, spending all my time training by myself. No one else would be able to understand how alone I felt during that time. I lowered my arms and closed my eyes. I sensed that Kairen had approached me.

He held his sword up to my throat. "You're going to lose at this rate." I heard playfulness in his voice once again.

I opened my eyes and knocked his sword away from my throat, remembering what had just happened recently, meeting my father, and speaking to Kairen like how we always used to in the past. Hopefully things would be different from now on. We continued to spar, occasionally hearing shouts from Karias in the background and Regis' surprised expressions. The fight had eventually come to a close when I was on the ground, exhausted and weaponless, with Kairen kneeling down on top of me over my legs, sword pointed at my neck. We were both covered in cuts and bruises, more so myself than him.

"Give up?" He smirked at me knowingly.

I pushed his sword away with my hand and struggled to sit up. "I lose." I sighed in resignation. I knew I would have lost from the start, but that wasn't any sort of consolation.

I heard the clank of his sword hitting the ground beside me, wondering what he was doing. I felt his arms around my shoulders all of a sudden. He had pulled me closer, my chin resting on his shoulder.

"H-Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" I brought my arms hands up and tried push at his chest to distance ourselves. "Y-You're acting creepier than normal! Plus there are people here!"

He laughed in response, "It's not like we're dating. I'd hate to date you if we weren't related anyway." He muttered the last sentence to himself. "And anyway we're siblings, isn't this normal?"

I gagged. "Even if I wasn't your sister I would never date a blockhead like you, and you also stink." I raised my hands to return his embrace reluctantly. "I don't think this type of action is normal for nobles though."

"That's true. I don't think I've ever seen nobles hug before."

"I heard humans do it all the time. I wonder what the big deal is." But in my mind, it was somehow comforting, this kind of embrace.

"You don't have to hold it all in you know. The sadness you felt for the past years." The sound of his voice was solemn and apologetic.

I gripped at his shirt making my hands into fists. "That's not for you to say." My voice trembled slightly, my words faltering. I buried my face into his shoulder, trying to hold my emotions in. I missed him. As creepy, blockheaded and weird as he was, in my opinion anyway, I missed having someone to talk to, who understood me.

Those who were watching on the sidelines watched us in wonder. Regis looking the most confused out of all who were standing there. I could hear their conversation as they weren't out of earshot.

"What are those two doing." Regis said confusedly.

Seira watched wistfully. "They're hugging."

"Well I know that, but why?"

Karias ran his hand through his hair and smiled to himself. "That girl, Aerei. She'd been harbouring a lot of sadness and frustration for a long time."

My father bowed his head and stared at the ground. "That's correct."

Everyone had glanced at my father, awaiting his next words. "As you know, those two are most likely as strange as Karias-"  
"Hey!" Karias protested.

My father looked over to Karias and said, "I don't mean that negatively." He turned his head to watch the two of us embracing. "In terms of displaying emotion and controlling it is where those two do not seem like nobles at all, or Skyels even. Aerei always thrived around contact with others, with that happy personality of hers that knows no bounds. These past few years, as you have noticed we have been training Kairen in order for his future position. Kairen was the one person that Aerei was closest to. Eventually Kairen had less and less time to spend with her, as did we, her parents. For years she spent most of her time alone, training to mask her sadness it seemed."

Everyone including the blonde and black haired man were facing our direction, watching us silently in the dusk-lit field that was littered with throwing knives and craters.

I let my tears silently soak into the fabric of his shoulder. The sadness that had engulfed me for all the years that had passed, I could finally let go of. I let go of his shirt, and the two of us pulled away. I could feel my cheeks turning red and I refused to look at him in the face. He got off of me and glanced down at me with a small smile on his face as he reached for both of our swords.

"Let's go," he said. "They're waiting for us." Kairen stalked off towards those waiting near the sidelines.

I rubbed my eyes and sighed out loud. I stood and sprinted to catch up with Kairen, so I could walk with him.

"Crybaby."

I saw the smirk on his face through the corners of my eyes, so I extended my left leg in front of him, attempting to trip him. I didn't expect it to work but it did. His right foot had got caught in front of my leg, and he stumbled forward, almost falling.

"What do you think you're doing! I'm holding these swords and you're trying to trip me?!"

I just pointed laughed at him in response. "What a loser, it actually worked."

Those who were standing on the sidelines sighed out loud in unison.

"What are those two doing." Regis shook his head and brought his hand to his forehead.

"Are you asking for another fight?" He challenged jokingly. "You're gonna lose again." Kairen pointed both swords at me.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry." I brought my hands up in surrender and continued walking towards our spectators.

We finally approached them and I bowed in greeting to my father and to the two unnamed guests I still did not know the names of. Kairen followed suit.

"Hello father." We said in unison.

I glanced over at Karias, Regis and Seira and just waved at them. Karias had waived back with a smile.

"I can see how greatly you've improved Aerei." My father glanced at me in acknowledgement. "And Kairen."

The both of us bowed, accepting his compliment.

"Wow you two actually seem like nobles for once." Karius laughed.

We raised our heads and, I glared at Karias making a mental note to punch him later.

"Ah these two," my Father turned towards the blonde and black haired men. "This is the human you've been so interested in meeting, and of course the noblesse as well."

I turned to face the two of them and bowed. "Aerei Skyel." I looked up back at them and examined their features more closely.

Kairen bowed as well and introduced himself.

The blonde replied with a small smile, "Frankenstein."

"Cadis Etrama di Raizel." The noblesse looked expressionless as he gazed down at the two of us.

 _No wonder I felt immense power from him earlier_ , I thought to myself. For a human Frankenstein was handsome, I could tell that much. I would have thought that Frankenstein would look like some kind of frightening human. As far as I could see, he looked every bit as normal as any human.

 **Frankenstein had sensed something from Raizel, and so he said,** "I hope you'll come visit us sometime."

"Yes, of course." Kairen replied with a smile.

All I did was nod in response, too stunned to say anything at the least from the human's request.

"Come visit at any time. Well then, we'll see you later." And so Frankenstein turned away leading the noblesse back to his mansion.

The both of us bowed as they sauntered towards the forest. The breath I didn't know I had been holding in was exhaled with just one sigh.

My father turned to face the two of us. "I expect to see you, Kairen, beginning training again early tomorrow, and Aerei."

"Yes father?"

He stared hard into my eyes, causing me to slightly flinch. "Keep up your training."

"Yes. I will"

He began to walk away towards the general direction of our domain. I watched his figure grow smaller and smaller until his form faded into the forest. I hadn't heard Karias calling my name for quite a while until Kairen shook my shoulder.

"You alright?" he asked worriedly.

I shrugged his hand off nonchalantly. "Of course I'm fine." I waved my hand as if to brush off the subject.

"Pfft." Karius was chuckling to himself.

The minute I heard Karius laugh, I turned towards him and punched him in the gut without warning.

"Ouch." He whined. "What was that for." Karias rubbed his stomach and looked at me expecting a good answer for what I had just done.

" _You two actually seemed like nobles for once_." I mimicked. "He may not seem like a noble," I pointed directly at Kairen. "But I know that I am."

Karias just laughed at my response. Regis put in a few chuckles as well. Seira just stood, looking away with a small smile on her face.

"What do you mean? You're the one who doesn't seem like a noble at all." Kairen retaliated as he dropped the two swords and crossed his arms over his chest and snickered.

I puffed my cheeks in response. "Stop laughing!" I was the youngest of them all, so of course I always got the short end of the stick and got picked on by everyone else.

"You two never stop arguing do you." Regis huffed, placing both hands on his hips. "Both of you lack class. What I don't understand is that you two have argued countless times, and yet you still manage to stay so close."

I tilted my head to look up at Kairen thoughtfully. "Hmm, I only argue with him a lot because he's a blockhead and he sti-"

Kairen pulled at my cheeks, stopping me mid-sentence. "There you go again, with that mouth of yours. You never say anything nice about your _dear_ older brother do you."

"That's actually true." Karias said, placing his hand on his chin, speculating. "I've never heard Aerei say anything nice about Kairen."

Seira nodded in agreement.

"Okay, okay let go. I'm sorry." I whined in pain, trying to pry his hands off my cheeks.

"Then again, Aerei hugged him back there-" Regis said.

"Okay! We all saw that, so we don't have to talk about it!" I shouted in embarrassment as I finally pulled his fingers off my cheeks. My face had turned entirely red so I lowered my head, facing the ground in an attempt to hide my embarrassment.

"Hmm your father said you two didn't have a problem displaying emotions, but it looks like this one does," Karias gestured towards me. "When speaking about affection."

"Well in terms of nobles, displaying emotions, especially those of affection is very rare." Regis stated.

Seira nodded in agreement again.

"It doesn't look like Kairen really has a problem with it." Karias shrugged while smiling. "Aerei, you should know you're lucky to have a brother like Kairen."

Kairen looked over towards me, my head still bowed in embarrassment. "She's always been that way." Kairen laughed chimed in air surrounding us, fitting in perfectly with the setting sun. "I don't really mind showing my sister that I care for her. Even if it is strange for nobles to display such emotions." He placed a hand on my head and ruffled my hair, a small smile gracing his lips. "Too many nobles are uptight about emotions anyway, isn't it refreshing to have people like us within the nobles anyways?" Kairen chuckled to himself.

Karias nodding vigorously in agreement.

I looked up at Kairen from where my head was bowed. My hair mostly obscured my view, and I began twiddling my thumbs. "I know I'm lucky." I whispered quietly to myself. "I appreciate Kairen a lot more than people think." I took this moment to pull most of my hair in front of my face, so they couldn't see how flustered I was.

"What was that? You need to speak up so I can hear you." Kairen teased. **Though he was pleasantly surprised by my words, since he'd never thought I'd outwardly express it with words.**

"Jeez! This is why I say you're such a blockhead, and don't lie to me, I know you heard me loud and clear." I looked up at Kairen defiantly, my hands on my hips. "I'm not going to say it again!"

Regis sighed in confusion, Seira smiling quietly and Karias laughing at our display.

"I guess that's just how she displays her love for you Kairen." Karias said.

"Looks like it." Kairen laughed, grabbing my arm and pulling me closer, resting his arm around my shoulders.

Seira gazed at the two of us with wistful eyes once again. Regis noticed this and bumped his shoulder into hers as a form of consolation. She smiled lightly at Regis so as to let him know not to worry, then turned her eyes towards the sky to watch the dark sky and moon slowly taking over the once bright sky.

I noticed the change in the Seira's eyes as she looked up towards the sky. I moved away from Kairen and hooped my arm around hers and smiled at her. "Want to come over today? We can have tea and stuff? I also need to change." I looked around at everyone else as an invitation while I began to walk in the direction towards our home, leading Seira along.

 **Seira was shocked by my actions, but deep down, she was grateful.** "Sure."

"I'll come too." Regis replied.

"Regis always goes where Seira goes." Karias teased as he followed after us.

"I-I do not!" Regis retorted, a faint blush tinting his usually pale cheeks.

 **Kairen stayed back for a few moments, quietly watching the four of us walk along with our banter filling the quiet air. Kairen smiled at the sight, picked up the swords and took off after us.** "Last one there is a pig." He yelled, dashing ahead of us.

"W-What!" Regis immediately took off at the sound of Kairen's insult. Karias soon followed suit.

"Come on." I smiled at Seira, coaxing her to follow after us.

Seira nodded with a small smile in response, and we both swiftly caught up to the three of them.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I've uploaded every chapter up to where I've stopped, and no I don't write eight chapters in one day and update that frequently LOL. I'll leave this here and see how this fanfic does in whether I decide to completely delete it or not over the next few days. Also, sorry if there are any grammatical or spelling errors, I only briefly skimmed over each chapter.

Reminder: Omniscient parts are bolded, the external spectator version of Aerei is providing information/narrating actions the Aerei directly involved in the story doesn't know, for purpose of informing the readers. (I have regrets about not writing this is third person omniscient but I'm trying my best to work with this. I apologize if it doesn't make sense.)

Try and imagine if there was a version of you that existed in an alternate universe (that you have no way of interacting with, and didn't know existed), who can see your actions and the actions of those around you (spectating), knowing the thoughts and intentions of those who are (or will be) involved/have interacted with you.

* * *

Chapter 4

After everyone had left the house and we bid them goodbye, I sighed outwardly, checking the wound on my back since it was still quite sore.

"Does it still hurt?" Kairen padded over towards where I was sat on a window couch and took a seat next to me.

The wound was slowly healing, some parts of it still open. I grimaced in pain when my fingers brushed over the open areas. "Yeah, it's still healing."

"Sorry about that. I guess I slashed too hard." He glanced at me worriedly, seeing the blood seeping into my white dress shirt.

"It's not your fault. I didn't ask you to go easy on me anyways. Hmm, at this rate all my white shirts will be stained." I groaned in annoyance.

Kairen tossed me a black long sleeve. "Here."

"What is this?" I held it up, not remembering if I had ever owned a shirt like this before.

"Is this yours?"

"Yeah, doesn't fit me anymore. Just use it."

"Thanks." I smiled at him and shuffled towards the bathroom to change out of the dress shirt. I attempted to wash the wound then apply the bandages. "This is harder than I thought." I muttered to myself. Somehow I managed to wrap the bandages properly so they were covering the wounds that were still open. I pulled on the shirt Kairen had given me, it was still a little baggy. I opened the door towards the living room. Kairen was sat on the couch, with his left foot propped up onto the couch, his elbow resting on his knee and his hand at his cheek. His short silver-grey hair fell over his right side of his face, with various strands sticking up, here and there. He was gazing outside towards the seemingly endless forest.

I slowly approached him and sat down beside him. "Wow you seem like a prince, looking like that." I leaned my head against the wall and peered out through the window.

"Pfft."

"What are you thinking about?" I wondered, mindlessly watching the trees shake and shiver from the wind.

Kairen stayed quiet for a few moments. "Hmm, nothing really. But you know, I can't believe you actually admitted-"

I held my hand out wanting him to stop before the embarrassment set in even more. "Nope. I never said that."

"I appreciate Kairen a lot more than-"

"No!" I covered his mouth with my hand before he could say anything more. I could feel his cheeks slowly turn up into a smile. "Nope. That never happened. I don't know what you're talking about."

"It happened and you know it." He muffled through my hand. He grabbed my wrist in an attempt to pull my hand off his mouth to no avail.

My cheeks were already red at this point. "Stop talking about that. Jeez. I didn't think that would make you that happy."

"Nope." He grinned.

"The hand ain't moving then. You can't talk about that." I looked away from his teasing eyes and frowned. All of a sudden I felt his tongue slide across the palm of my hand. "EWW! What are you doing!" I immediately pulled my hand away and wiped it vigorously on the leg of my pants. "You creepy blockhead."

"Hey, your hand was over my mouth and you wouldn't take it off. You deserve it." he grumbled with a disgusted expression as he wiped his tongue on the back of his hand.

I knelt down in front of him deep in thought knowing I should thank him properly. My hands clenched into tight fists on my knees as I stared down at the backs of my hands.

He watched me with a cautious look in his eyes. "What are you doing?" he asked as he crossed his legs, resting his hands on his knees.

I lifted my head to look at him straight in the eyes. "I'm sorry for saying mean things all the time." My voice quivered, my resolve slowly cracking.

His eyes widened in astonishment as he continued to observe me and listen, staying silent.

"I don't really mean those things when I say them." I bit my lip and looked away nervously, my cheeks slightly turning pink. After a few moments I met his gaze again. "I'm thankful that you noticed how I've been feeling when I denied myself from speaking out about how I felt, how you spent time with me today when you should have been training, and that you asked father to speak with me." My utterances merely became a soft mutter. "I'm also grateful that you are my brother." A few moments passed in silence before I spoke again. "I never really realized that you actually cared about me." I bowed my head and looked down at my hands again, tears beginning to well up in my eyes. I was just thankful that I didn't have to be alone again, at least for now, I didn't know what the future would bring. I thought about how long could I have gone like that, being almost completely alone, suppressing my sadness, anger and frustrations, just training to vent out my feelings.

Kairen finally reached out and touched my cheek gently. I looked up into his eyes, and he drew his hand away with a small smile. "You're not alone." He said as took one of my hands into his own.

My hands were cold and more pasty than usual. I didn't realize how tight I was clenching my fists. I relaxed my hand as he held it. Those words ran through my mind multiple times as I let the tears run freely down my cheeks. At that moment in time, I kept those words as close to my heart as I could. I let my tense body relax, and felt the warmth of his hand pass into my hand.

Kairen's voice chimed into the silent air once again. "And I know. I know that you don't mean those things." He gazed at me with soft eyes. "I'm sorry for not realizing earlier, I had been too caught up in my training." No one would have been able to notice the slight tremors in his voice, except those who were closest to him. His scarlet irises met my own ruby eyes apologetically. "And you're the blockhead. How could I not care about my little sister." His lips slowly forming a heartfelt smile.

I returned his smile with my own, projecting all the happiness I could in it. I wiped my tears with the back of my free hand. I hated it when people saw me cry. At that moment, I felt so very tired. Thinking of the past with what had happened, and what might happen in the future. Our lives were long and still set ahead of us. Without thinking I reached towards Kairen and hugged him. I was thankful for everything he had done for me, and that I had someone I could rely on.

He was surprised that I had hugged him of my own accord. "Jeez what happened to you. You never do these kinds of things, especially if it's me. Did you drink something weird in your tea earlier?" He said while he wrapped his arms around my small frame with a tiny laugh.

I rested my cheek on his shoulder, not in the mood to joke around. "I'm tired."

"Tired of?"

"Life? Oh, I don't know. Everything that happened. I just feel tired."

"That sounds complicated, but I kind of get what you mean. We all still have a long time ahead of us."

The two of us sat in silence like that for a while, it felt soothing. I pulled away from him so I could stretch and lie on the couch and I silently glanced out the window comfortably with Kairen. "Oh right, shouldn't you be training or something."

"I don't train twenty four seven. I'm too lazy." He yawned as he rested his arms behind his head.

I laughed at him, placing one foot on his knee. "If father heard that he wouldn't be pleased, and that's not something the future family leader should be saying."

"Pssh. It's not like he'll hear me from halfway across Lukedonia. Oh right, we met that human today. You kept saying you wanted to meet him when you were younger."

I looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Yeah, I did say that a lot." I blushed at the thought of meeting Frankenstein and the noblesse again.

"Anyway, what do we do about that. They actually asked us to visit them." Kairen had a dark expression on his face.

"Let's just go, it can't be that bad?"

He looked down at me and sighed. "Man, you're so reckless, do you ever worry about anything?"

I just smiled at him and shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly.

"It'd be a problem if you were the family leader."

"H-Hey!"

* * *

 **The noblesse sat down in the seat he usually sat in as he waited for Frankenstein to pour him a cup of tea.**

 **"Master, I noticed you took notice in those two from earlier, during their battle." He placed the tea on the coffee table in front of the noblesse gently and took a seat opposite to him.**

 **He picked up the tea and took a few sips, letting silence hang in the air for a few moments before asking his question. "Siblings." He trailed off. "What's that like?"**

 **Frankenstein was bewildered, not sure how he should go about answering that question. There were many different types of relationships between siblings. "Hmm. I apologize, that I cannot answer that question right now."**

 **The noblesse looked down into his tea, pondering what that might be like. Yes, he had had a brother, though their relationship was strained, and full of discord. He felt moreso alone than anything. But when the noblesse watched the two of us, Kairen and I, he had felt happy. Our relationship was something he never had, but was something he knew at one point he'd dreamt about.**

 **"For nobles, it seems that their kind of behaviour is strange, but in the human world the sibling relationship that they have is not so rare." He watched his master's eyes flicker with wonder. He knew what his master was thinking about, and didn't blame him. Being alone for so long was too lonely and sad for anyone to bear. "It seems they do plan to visit sometime though. Watching those two may answer the questions you have."**


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Frankenstein has a phone because this is only several years before Rai and Frankenstein head to Korea.

* * *

Chapter 5

Kairen and I stood at the door of the noblesse's mansion, both of us dumbfounded about how we ended up here.

"Knock on the door," I ordered Kairen nervously.

"Hey this was your idea! You do it."

The two of us were nervous wrecks, meeting with the noblesse. I glared at the door, even just looking at it intimidated me. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and knocked on the door. Shortly after the door opened for us, Frankenstein appearing.

"Ahh so the two of you came. Welcome." He bowed and moved to the side to let us enter the mansion.

Kairen and I bowed in greeting and passed through the doors.

"If you'll follow me, I will lead you to where master is." He closed the door and strode towards the stairs, leading us through various hallways until we reached the room where the noblesse was situated.

I knew a little of the noblesse's position, from rumors. About how he locked himself away from the other nobles due to their fear of his power. _How long had he been here alone_.

"Just relax, don't be so nervous." Frankenstein smiled at us.

We walked into the room together. I glanced over to where the noblesse was sat, silently drinking his tea. He turned his head towards us. I immediately felt intimidated, but bowed with Kairen in greeting again. Kairen took a seat on the left side of noblesse on the couch, while Frankenstein prepared more tea. I instead padded over towards the open window, wondering how many times the noblesse had seen the view from this window.

"Wow you can see everything from here." I had spoken a little too loudly. "Ahh oops. Sorry." I turned towards the others and bowed. I glanced over to Kairen and could tell he was not impressed. I briefly looked over the the noblesse and caught him glimpsing at me. I wondered if my eyes would have fooled me again since I thought I saw a small smile on his lips.

"You don't need to be so formal, just relax." Frankenstein laughed.

"Oh. Yes," I replied in surprise. I turned back towards the window and continued to gaze out at the forest and scenery, the voices in the background slowly fading to a quiet murmur in my head.

Frankenstein had sat down opposite to Kairen and explained the situation of why he had asked us to visit.

"Ahh I see, well it's true. My sister and I act nothing like nobles if you compare us to the majority of them." Kairen set his tea down and crossed his legs. "Others often say we behave more like humans."

Frankenstein laughed at Kairen's response. "I can see how. That display of affection yesterday after your sparring match. I never thought I'd ever see two nobles hug before."

Kairen closed his eyes and coughed in embarrassment.

 **This is what had caught the noblesse's eye the other day along with our playful banter. The noblesse had never seen two nobles that were as eccentric with their emotions as us. There was Karias but he was always just joking around.**

Frankenstein continued to ask various questions about the two of us, our past and how we acted around each other, and also towards others. The noblesse listened intently, interested in our strange behaviour since we acted so much more freely than other nobles. I could grasp the general idea of the conversation in the background, but I was caught up in my own thoughts about my life here and how my life could have been if I was a human. I never met another human other than Frankenstein, but I had heard many stories throughout my lifetime, sometimes reading about them in books. It wasn't until the noblesse stood next to me that I realized the idle chatter in the background stopped. I quietly shied away from him, wondering if he wanted to look out the window too. Kairen was still sat on the sofa, sipping his tea with one eye open to watch the two of us.

There were many things I wanted to ask the noblesse, but I felt too afraid to ask. I had accidentally spoken out loud during my internal dialogue. "How long have you been here to look out this window?"

From the corner of my eye I glanced at Kairen and knew heheld back a sigh and a facepalm at my sudden question.

"Ahh, oops. Sorry, you don't have to answer that."

Silence filled the air for a few moments until he spoke. "A very long time." The noblesse was still looking out the window. From a distance, he may have seemed aloof, but I could see the hidden emotions in his eyes, loneliness.

I stared into his scarlet eyes for a few moments. "Your eyes." The noblesse glanced at me, face expressionless as always. "Have a lot of emotion in them."

His eyes widened in surprise at my sudden comment.

I turned the corners of my lips up into a small smile in return, wondering if he could see the emotions that were in my eyes. I looked over to Kairen and realized Frankenstein was gone. I quietly padded over to Kairen and attempted to sit on his lap.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kairen said, slightly annoyed. "We're at the noblesse's house if you've forgotten."

"Of course I know that." I nodded knowingly. "I just wanted to crush you since you were watching us like a creep, and since I can't punch you here."

He sighed in exasperation and shook his head while pushing me off his lap. "You're going to need to gain more weight if you want to crush me."

The noblesse had been watching our small outburst, a smile gracing his lips. I caught the noblesse gazing at us once again with that smile on his lips. When the noblesse realized both Kairen and I were watching him, he quickly turned away towards the window, a very faint blush staining his pale cheeks.

"Sorry about Aerei." Kairen shook his head in embarrassment.

"No need to apologize," the noblesse responded, still looking out the window quietly.

"So anyway, where did he go?" I pointed over to the area where Frankenstein had been sitting earlier.

"He said he was going to check up on some things."

"Ahh, okay." I curled up on the corner of the couch as we sat in silence with the noblesse looking out the window. I slowly closed my eyes and began to daydream about anything but my life in Lukedonia, drifting further away from reality.

The door had opened again and Frankenstein had let himself back into the room and sat back down on the couch. At this, the noblesse also walked over and sat back down in his chair quietly. I opened my eyes slightly again, tuning back into the world around me before closing my eyes again.

Frankenstein turned his attention to me with a questioning tone, and then turned back to Kairen. "Is she sleeping?" He was bewildered by my strange behaviour, for a noble anyway.

"I don't think she's fallen asleep yet," Kairen replied while he looked over at my seemingly sleeping visage. He began to poke and prod at my stomach. "You sleeping? Wake up."

"Of course I'm not sleeping." I said, my eyes still closed. "I'm still feeling tired." I sighed, then opened my eyes to look over at Frankenstein then to Kairen and slowly pulled myself to sit up straight.

"Tired?" Frankenstein was clearly confused from my statement. "Do nobles ever actually feel like that?"

"No, not normally actually, well with what I've observed anyway. She's the only one I've seen that's ever expressed that feeling," Kairen said.

 **Kairen watched my facial expression carefully, he noticed that without the usual cheerful smile I had on, I looked much older and drained.**

He reached for my arm automatically, like a reflex, the second he looked into my eyes. Kairen wrinkled his brow and the worry he felt was clearly evident in his eyes.

The noblesse watched me, not saying a word, but understanding how I felt.

I looked at Kairen with curiosity, and immediately realized how worried he was. "What is it?"

"Do you want to go home and rest? Has the wound healed yet?"

I stared back at him without saying anything, my eyes vacant and lips devoid of my usual small smile.

"Well?!"

"Why are you so worried. Of course I'm fine, I don't need to rest. Jeez, you're acting so much like a mother."

He immediately stood up while holding my arm, his gaze boring into mine. "You're lying to me."

"I'm not." I looked away from him onto the floor.

He released my arm and stayed silent for a few moments, continuing to watch my small form. "Your eyes," he began to repeat what I had just said a while ago to the noblesse, "have a lot of emotion in them."

I turned my head back to meet his eyes once again in shock the minute I heard him echo my words.

"You can't lie to me, now matter how hard you try. I can see it all in your eyes, even when your face doesn't show it."

 **The noblesse was mesmerized by our relationship. It was a very strange concept to him to see nobles acting this way. Though somehow, deep down it warmed his heart to see how close the two of us really were. This had also piqued Frankenstein's interest, he had never met nobles like us before. Now they both completely understood what Kairen meant when he said that the two of us acted more like humans than anything.**

I sighed in response with a small smile, though I knew I still looked drained, the usual sparkle in my eyes had disappeared. "I know I can't lie to you." I whispered quietly. "After all like a creep, you know everything about me." My expression had changed and I crossed my arms and looked away.

He sat down next to me, worry dancing in his eyes, though his face displaying that he was unimpressed with my statement. "Did you really have to say that? And we grew up together, how can you expect me to not know everything about you."

Frankenstein chuckled at our strange relationship and exchange of words.

Kairen and I glanced over to the noblesse then to Frankenstein.

"Sorry about all this." Kairen bowed his head in apology.

"It's alright," Frankenstein said, keeping a small smile on his lips. "It's interesting to watch the two of you."

The noblesse didn't say anything but nodded slightly at this.

"Well, if Aerei isn't feeling well today, you could both come back at a different-"

I shook my head at his offer. "I'm okay, really." I presented a slight smile. "Anyways, I've always been wondering about the human world? What is it like?" I asked in fascination, a little of the sparkle returning to my eyes.

Kairen noticed this and breathed out a small sigh of relief.

"Hmm, well. I'm sure you've heard about all the different things have been doing. You've probably seen pictures of the human world, have you not?"

"Yes I have. All those strange buildings and such." I replied eagerly.

Kairen couldn't help but chuckle at my excitement, while he continued to drink his tea.

Frankenstein nodded. "Yeah, things like that. There's also been much advancement in technology, though you don't really ever see that here, do you?" He pulled out a small device from his pocket and showed it to me. "It's main purpose is to contact people from long distances. But it doesn't work here due to various circumstances. It's called a cell phone back in the human world. Or just phone for short." He pressed a button on it, and the dark screen lit up, presenting a few numbers on a plain background.

I was completely captivated by this device even though I had no idea what it was and how to use it. Even Kairen was surprised, listening intently.

I read out the numbers on the screen. "Five, thirty-three?"

"Ah. That's the current time." He pointed to the number before the colon. "This is the hour." Then he pointed to the number after the colon. "This is minutes." The phone screen had turned off by itself.

"Ohh. I see. Humans are quite amazing," I said as he handed me the phone so I could look at it more closely. I pressed the button he had pressed on it earlier, both Kairen and I watching it attentively, the screen had lit once again. Even the noblesse was listening and watching us play with the phone, intrigued by this strange apparatus.

Frankenstein began to give some instructions on how to use it. "Just swipe the screen with your finger gently once the screen is on."

I did as he said and the screen had changed, it was covered with tiny boxes, names listed underneath, and the time.

"There's also games and such on it. It'd be easier to show you what games are." He stood up and moved so he could sit next to me, holding his hand open so he could show us what games were.

He had sat down on my left side and I handed him the phone, and the two of us leaned in to watch him play.

"There are actually many kinds of games. I don't play a lot of games to be honest." He tapped on one called _Tetris_. At first the blocks on the screen moved down slowly, but as he progressed throughout the game, the number on the side of the screen increase in number, the speed of which the blocks fell increased as well, which required quite a quick reaction time and plan of action. He paused the game all of a sudden. "You guys get the general idea, right?"

Kairen and I both nodded in amusement.

"This is what's called a puzzle game." He handed us the phone so we could try. He smiled at our enjoyment of the phone, he could also tell that his master was quite interested. He gathered our cups and poured more tea, and one for myself since I had not had tea earlier.

Kairen played first getting to quite a high level before finally losing. He sighed when the words "Game Over" had appeared on the screen, and handed me the phone next. Frankenstein set our refilled cups of tea back on the table, Kairen reaching out for his cup. "Thanks." He muttered.

"No problem," Frankenstein responded as he sat down where he was sitting earlier.

I started a new game. Though I didn't get as far as Kairen had gotten, I still was delighted by this strange piece of technology. I looked to where the noblesse was sat and asked him, "Do you want to try?"

He nodded, not saying a word like usual.

I walked to where he was sitting and explained how to play as much as I could, then I handed him the phone. Even the noblesse had gotten farther than I. When he finished he handed the phone back to me, I smiled at him as I took the phone and sat back down and handed it back to Frankenstein over the coffee table. "Man, you three are all better at the game. Oh well." I picked up my glass of tea, and sipped quite contentedly.

Kairen and Frankenstein both chuckled in response.

"Anyway, I think we'll get going now. Thanks for having us." Kairen stood up and bowed elegantly.

I followed Kairen's example and thanked them as well. "Ah. I was also wondering if I could come back at a later time." I could feel Kairen's glare. "I wanted to learn more about the humans. If not, that's okay," I inquired hoping he'd allow it.

Frankenstein led us to the door. "Of course, you two are always welcome. It seems master enjoyed himself as well."

 **Not only the noblesse had taken interest in us, but so did Frankenstein. He had wanted to observe our strange behavior, since it was quite a spectacle to see in Lukedonia, not only that but he had also wanted to speak with me again since he had noticed my profound curiosity in human culture, which was unlike any other noble he had met before. Normally he didn't take such interest with other nobles.**

The three of us glanced over to the noblesse who was quietly enjoying his tea with a delicate blush adorning his cheeks.

I giggled quietly to myself, thinking about how soft hearted the noblesse actually seemed to be.

Frankenstein watched me from the corner of his eyes, causing him to naturally smile at my small laugh. "Well I'll escort you to the door then." He led us back to the front door and opened it for us. He bowed his head and smiled as a parting gesture.

Kairen and I bowed as well and we made our way out the door. Before I exited their mansion I gazed over to Frankenstein and said, "Thanks a lot for today. I really appreciated it."

"Not at all. It was my pleasure." He raised his head, his smile still decorating his face.

I peered into his eyes and met his intense stare and saw that his smile was authentic. I gasped in surprise realizing how handsome he really was, a blush illuminating my cheeks. With that I returned his smile shyly and followed after Kairen.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Kairen hit my head all of a sudden as we left their estate. "Ouch! What was that for." I shoved at him.

He stumbled further away from me. "Sigh. You're so embarrassing sometimes." He shook his in disappointment.

"Pfft. What's the problem. They said it was okay to visit again anyway." I walked ahead of him. Without warning he slapped my back lightly. "Oww! What are you doing." I groaned in pain. The wounds that were still healing stung so I began rubbing my back as a reaction.

"Just checking to see if your wounds have healed yet." He smirked.

"You could have just asked me." I glanced over my back at him with spiteful eyes.

"You would've tried to lie to me," he said with knowing eyes. "Speaking of which. You're still hurting aren't you."

My pace had immediately slowed at his words as I looked to the ground and halted.

Kairen stopped beside me, looking down at me, waiting for an answer.

"It's not easy for me to forget those feelings." I struggled with my words, not sure if that would make sense to him. "It was only yesterday that I still felt that way. If you hadn't come to me and asked father to speak with me..." I trailed off.

 **Kairen pursed his lips as he continued to watch me, only realizing now how small my physique was. He continued to think, his thoughts wandering into darker places, that I could disappear in just an instant. Rationally, he knew that wasn't likely since we were naturally sturdier than humans, but the thought of it scared him to death. He wondered what he would have done if I had just vanished, been put to eternal sleep, while he wasn't there for me. Guilt slowly wrapping around his mind again. It drove him insane, these sorts of thoughts.**

I listened into the silence of the environment around us. Occasional chirps from birds nearby, the forest surrounding us and the hues of the sky gradually moving from blue, to red-oranges and accents of pinks refracting off the clouds. He hadn't said anything for a couple minutes now, so I peered up at him. His head bowed and face obscured by the hair that fell over his eyes. A slight breeze brushing his hair ever so slightly to the right so I could barely see the emotions buried deep within his irises.

I moved so I was standing directly in front of him. "Kairen?" When he didn't respond. I raised my right hand so I could touch his cheek, like he had done for me the night before when I could no longer contain the feelings that had been eating away at me. I rested the palm of my hand gently on his cheek.

He brought his left hand up and covered my hand with his.

 **Not wanting to forget the warmth of my hand on his cheek. He didn't want to think of a day where my hand no longer emitted that warmth, completely lifeless. He closed his eyes and just focused on that warmth, his lips slowly forming a smile filled with pain.**

"Jeez. What's wrong with me." He whispered to himself, as he took my hand off his cheek and held it. He opened his eyes slightly and looked at me with forlorn eyes.

I pursed my lips at the look in his eyes. Having a bit of an idea of what he was thinking about. My lips drooped into a frown, knowing he was being tormented by distressing thoughts. I didn't like seeing him plagued with pain like this. It didn't help that I was also I was also suffering. I called for him, something I hadn't called him in a long time. "Brother…" I weakly trailed off. Memories of his smile and laugh flashed in my memories, seeing him like this broke my heart when he was normally so strong. I pulled my hand away from his and wrapped my arms around him tightly, burying my face deep into his chest.

His arms hung at his side, as if he had lost all will to live.

 **The thoughts of me disappearing from his side wouldn't cease. Like with the older sister I had never met. The horrors of what had happened coming back to haunt him. A barrage of negative thoughts filled with apprehension. He began to hear his own endless screams in his mind once again, pleading for her to stop, the hand in his memories reaching out to her. He didn't have the power to protect her.** **He slowly lifted his hands to press them against his ears, wanting the thoughts to stop, begging his mind to end the screams and shouts. He shut his eyes, and a layer cold sweat slowly formed over his blanched skin, his breath becoming shaky and haggard. He was at the mercy of these haunting memories. The nightmare replaying over and over, except this time I was the victim. The one who he couldn't protect, once again.**

He fell to his knees, and I fell with him.

I pulled away to look at him, frantically calling his name. "Kairen?! Kairen?!"

 **He could barely hear my shouts. When he finally opened his eyes and saw he saw the worried look on my face. He was glad I was in front of him, healthy and safe. He still had his hands at his ears, the thoughts and whispers not yet ready to release him.**

I immediately pulled him as close to me as possible, bringing his head to my right shoulder, holding him. I could barely keep my tears from spilling over. I had never seen him like this before. For the first time in my Iife I was afraid for him. I rubbed his back while gently holding his head on my shoulder. Slowly he removed his hands from his ears and he hugged me tightly, clutching onto the back of my shirt as if it were a lifeline. Moments passed, the birds ceased to chirp and the moon hung high in the sky, partially covered by a cloud, and the stars illuminating the dark sky. His breathing began to gradually even out, his breaths not as shallow and shaky as before.

 ** _You will never be able to protect her_** **, the words that were constantly repeated, whispered only to him, after the horrific thoughts finally ceased and gave him mercy**.

I felt him bury his face into the crook of my neck, as he shifted his arms so I was completely encircled by his arms.

"Please don't leave me. Don't disappear." A whispered plea that I was never meant to hear.

 **He gripped me even tighter, afraid that I'd evaporate if he didn't hold onto me tight enough.**

I could feel his tears soaking into the collar of my shirt. My heart shattered into smaller pieces each time I heard his breath hitch and shake unsteadily as he inhaled. I had never even seen or heard Kairen cry before. Hours had passed as I wordlessly held Kairen in my arms, running my fingers through his hair. He shifted his head so he could see the forest to the right, still resting his head on my shoulder. He was completely soaked in sweat.

"Are you okay?" I softly asked him.

 **He didn't say anything for fear of his words coming out too shaky and weak**.

He nodded weakly in response.

I knew he wasn't okay and it'd be better if he could rest at home.

"Let's go home okay?"

 **Kairen could feel vibration of the words through my throat, though my voice sounded much farther away.**

He reluctantly pulled away and stood up, wobbling ever so slightly. He refused to lift his head.

I knew he didn't want me to see him like his, so I didn't try to peer at his face. I took his hand into mine gently and led him towards the direction of our home. The two of us walked in silence, his steps heavy and hesitant, so unlike his usual self.

When we arrived home, my father was waiting for us in the foyer. The minute he had heard the door open, he opened his mouth to lecture the both of us. He stopped the second he saw Kairen's condition. He knew what had happened.

I closed the door behind us and bowed my head. "I apologize father." I didn't know how to explain the situation to him, I lifted my head weakly. I knew my eyes were red and slightly swollen from earlier, so I avoided my father's gaze. I attempted to pull my hand out of Kairen's hand, but he firmly held on with no intention of letting go. I was surprised he wasn't allowing me to let go, but considering what had happened earlier, I understood why. My father had called for Kairen's name, I turned to look at him, but Kairen stayed unresponsive with his head down. He approached the two of us and grabbed Kairen's wrist and began walking. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to follow, but Kairen refused to let go of my hand. "Father?"

He didn't say anything and continued to lead us on. We stopped at Kairen's room where he pushed the doors open and turned on the lights, and made Kairen sit on the bed.

I stood in front of Kairen watching him, still holding his hand, wondering what had happened for him to be in this much pain. I could see past his hair, into his eyes, his red irises holding no will to live, as if expressing the unsaid words saying that he deserved to die. The pain I felt in my heart felt as if it would engulf me as a whole. I didn't want to see him like this.

"Kairen let go of Aerei's hand." My father's voice boomed through the silence.

His pupils shrunk at this command and he began to panic. A sweat beads forming over his skin once again.

He was mentally unstable, I could tell that much. It pained me to do this, but I tried to pry my hand out of his.

When Kairen wouldn't let go, my father held onto his wrist. "Kairen, let go."

"I can't. She'll disappear too. Like Alessa." Kairen's words hung in the air, the tension so thick it might be able to be cut with a knife.

"Kairen, I'm not going anywhere. But please let go." The pain in my voice was evident enough so my father could hear it as well. In the back of my mind, I wondered who Alessa was. _Was she the one that was causing my older brother so much pain?_ , I thought to myself.

"N-No!" His voice faltered, his breath becoming shallow once again.

My father had to pry my hand out of his. "Aerei please call your mother here, after that you are dismissed." He said while restraining Kairen's attempts to reach for me again.

"N-No! Don't take her away! Not like Alessa! Not again!"

I looked back at Kairen sorrowfully as I walked towards the door, I didn't want to leave his side at a time like this. His gaze calling me to return to his side so I could comfort him. I turned away, breaking the gaze we held, for fear that I wouldn't be able to leave if I continued to watch him writhe against my father's strength. As I left the room, I could hear his shouts of desperation. I couldn't take it anymore, I needed to run. Run away so I could no longer hear his screams that willed me to go back to his side to stop my father so I could hold him until he felt better. I approached the room where my mother was located and pushed the doors open, my head bowed, voice solemn and quiet. "Mother…"

"Aerei." My mother could tell something was wrong. "What happened?"

"Father summoned you to Kairen's room." My voice shook with fear and pain.

She approached me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at her, my eyes watery, tears daring to fall. "Go wait in your room, okay?" A small worried smile graced her usual expressionless face.

I nodded automatically, her smile somewhat bringing peace into my rampaging heart.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Several more hours had passed. I curled into a ball on my bed, covered by my sheets. The images of Kairen in pain kept flashing through my mind, and his screams of hesitation, not wanting me to leave. I shut my eyes. Never did I want to see him like that again. I opened my eyes slightly, staring into the darkness of my room, the sun slowly peeking through the horizon, illuminating the end of my room. _What kind of darkness had Kairen been holding on to this whole time_ , I wondered. I shifted to lie flat on my back, spreading my arms out, my bed strewn with tissues. The contrast of Kairen's expressions just from the day before, and now. _Why?_ I slowly remembered, that I also had my own darkness to deal with, pain of loneliness that still clung to my soul even when I knew everything was alright now. I heard the door open.

"Aerei?" My mother called for me softly. She sat on the edge of my bed. "Kairen's calmed down now. He's asking for you."

I sat up and nodded. My mother knew I was in shock from seeing Kairen like that. I decided to change out of my clothes before going to Kairen.

She noticed I had bandages wrapped around my back while I was changing my shirt. "What happened to your back?"

"Oh. Nothing. I sparred with Kairen a while ago. It's mostly healed now." I pulled on a clean dress shirt and pair of black pants.

"Aerei." Her voice was solemn, sounding almost tired. "Kairen needs you now more than ever." I could clearly see the sadness displayed in her eyes.

"Mother." I walked over to her and held her hand, continuing to hold her gaze. "It will be okay."

My mother lowered her head. "Yes." She whispered so quietly I barely heard her speak.

I hesitated for a moment, but I went through with it anyway. I leaned down to hug my mother.

At first she was surprised, but she returned the gesture gratefully, bringing a hand up to rest on the small of my back.

I pulled away and smiled at her tenderly. "I'm going to see Kairen now." I turned away and padded to the entrance of my room. I walked down the various hallways that led to Kairen's room and stood outside the door of his room, my legs slowly giving in. Before I could hesitate even more, I pushed the door to his room open and entered. I quietly shut the door behind me. All the lights in his room were turned off. I observed Kairen from afar, he was sitting on his bed leaning back on the headboard looking out the window watching the sunrise with his hands neatly folded over the sheets on his lap, his shirt slightly unbuttoned and his appearance more disheveled than usual. He looked pale, all colour drained from his face, exhausted, and years older than he really was.

He turned to face me, saying nothing as an empty smile passed across his face.

I approached him and sat on the edge of his bed and stared down at his hands, they just barely trembled. I raised my eyes to look into his eyes, my face painted with worry.

"Don't look at me like that." He said while turning his head to look out the window again. Silence filled the air for a few moments until Kairen opened his mouth to speak. "I'm sorry you had to see me like that." He gripped his hands together tighter, his voice sounding strained. "I didn't want you to see."

I tilted my head in confusion, moving my legs onto the bed and kneeling on them so I could look straight at Kairen. "Why?"

"It's a story I didn't want you to hear." He mouthed gingerly. His voice void of any emotion with those eyes of his that always bared his true feelings.

I wanted to understand, but didn't want to force him. "If you don't want to tell me, it's alright."

He shook his head, and looked over at me with a pained smile. "I'll tell you." His voice shook hesitantly.

I stopped him before he could start. "Go calm down first. I can tell that's it's a story that's not easy for you to tell."

He nodded silently. "Okay." His lips quivered slightly. He pushed the sheets away and flipped his legs out of the bed sighing. "I'm going to have a bath then." He strode over to his bathroom, his steps somewhat unstable. He shut and door and I waited patiently.

I stood up and jumped off his bed, making my way over to his balcony. I pushed the glass doors open, feeling the cold breeze of the morning tickle my skin. I rested my arms on the baluster and closed my eyes, clearing my mind of all thoughts. My hair flowed and danced in the wind, the sun reflecting off of my argent-grey hair, causing it to sparkle. I breathed in, I didn't know how long I had stood there for, but I felt Kairen's presence behind me. I turned to face him, leaving one hand resting on the baluster.

He was dressed in white socks, black pants and a normal white dress shirt left untucked, the top few buttons slightly undone. He had a towel over his head, rubbing it into hair to dry it. He let the towel fall against his shoulders and lowered his arm as he slowly met my gaze. The ghost of a smile playing at his lips. The breeze slowly died down, and he opened his mouth. "You look so much like her." He paused and looked up at the birds that were passing overhead. "Alessa."

"Alessa?"

He nodded, and turned his eyes to meet mine. He walked towards me and propped himself onto the baluster to sit. He tore his gaze away from mine, and looked behind his shoulder to stare out at the sunrise and forest beyond. "Our older sister."

I watched him, my eyes widening in complete astonishment.

"She was about two hundred years older than me. I was about a hundred at the time. So this happened before you were born." His gazed hardened. "I was a kid who didn't understand anything. I followed her into the human world since I wanted to see life outside Lukedonia. The humans were performing experiments on their own kind, with or without the subject's consent. They were called modified humans." He paused for a while, looking down at the ground below as he kicked one of his legs forward. "One day, one of those modified humans went berserk, destroying everything around it. Killing humans."

My brow furrowed in confusion as I continued to listen.

"I was too weak since I was still a child. I couldn't protect myself. Alessa had stepped in to protect the humans and me as well. She told me to get away, but I didn't listen to her." He shut his eyes, tilting his head back he breathed in. "I stayed because I was worried about her, I thought I would be able to help. My decision proved fatally wrong." Kairen opened his eyes, and looked wistfully at the sky. "Soon, another modified human had appeared. Alessa was still able to fight off the two of them. She kept telling me to run, but I refused. A third one had appeared shortly after. Alessa was already exhausted at this point and had several wounds. Why didn't I run and call for help when I had the chance?" He sighed. "Alessa knew, at this point the two of us wouldn't be able to escape together. She had already evacuated all the humans in the area. Alessa fought to the death to protect me from those humans' hands." He clenched his hands into fists on his lap, his knuckles turning white. "I couldn't protect her at all. I failed to. Instead I only burdened her."

At this, I placed a hand on his leg to reassure him. I stayed completely silent, attempting to mask the pain and anguish I felt, for Kairen and the older sister I had never met, Alessa.

He looked down at me from where he was staring at the sky. "Thanks." He said, placing a hand over top of mine. His gaze returned to the sky, where he watched the clouds slowly pass over us. "I watched her disappear in front of my eyes, as the modified humans held me from my neck." His voice trembled and shook more than ever. He held back the tears that threatened to fall. "She had a small smile on her face as she mouthed those three words to me." He paused again, bringing his other hand over his heart. "Along with an apology. _I love you. I'm sorry_. Slowly, I watched her fade away, powerless." He stopped talking for a long time, until he found the strength to speak again. He lowered his hand resting it on his lap again. "She had stalled long enough for father to arrive to save me. She wasn't strong enough to stall for enough time to save the both of us. Father realized what had happened, he had seen her last few moments, and her smile, before she disappeared completely. Put into an eternal sleep. Father went into a rampage. How could he not after seeing a scene like that. His daughter dying and fading in front of his eyes. I had gone unconscious sometime during the fight, and when I awoke I was here, in my room. I was in a daze, and when I remembered what had happened, I went insane. I blamed it all on myself." He bit his lip and closed his eyes. "And I still do. I never want something like that to happen again. I want to be able to protect. To be strong enough to protect." He bowed his head so he could look into my eyes. "And then around a hundred and twenty years passed since she was put into eternal sleep. I slowly healed, little by little over that span of time, and finally you were born." He smiled at me wistfully. He closed his eyes for a few moments, before jumping down from the baluster and sighing.

I didn't know how to put what I was feeling into words, so I just stared at his back. That back of his that carried a great deal of guilt and sorrow that I hadn't know about for the past one hundred and eighty years that I'd been living.

 **He started to walk away with his head down, wanting to run far far away from reality. But his mind held him a prisoner, chaining him to his guilt. All of a sudden he lurched forward and took a step automatically in order to balance himself. He was surprised from the sudden impact. He had found that my arms had somehow made their way around his waist in an embrace.**

I pressed my forehead into his back. "Stupid," I muttered under my breath.

 **He smiled painfully at my sudden insult and thought that he was perhaps an idiot. After all he had made so many mistakes he regret and wanted to take back and redo.**

"You should have told me earlier. Trying to carry all these things by yourself." My voice was on the borderline of trembling, though I held on.

My words had shocked him. He grit his teeth, and balled his fists.

 **He didn't want to shed tears in front of me again. But he thought that maybe I was right, that he should have told me sooner. The thought always nagged at him though, that I might reject him, blame him and resent him for Alessa's death. So he had never brought it up, he didn't want me to hate him.**

"I was afraid you'd hate me for what I'd done to Alessa," he said softly to mask the shakiness of his tone.

"Blockhead. You claim to know everything about me. How could I hate you. It's not your fault." I rubbed my face into his back, clutching him tighter, his scent encompassing me. "I'm sure Alessa thought the same." I sniffled as the tears began to roll down my cheeks, some of them soaking into Kairen's shirt.

He brought the back of his hand to his eyes to try and prevent the flow of his tears to no avail.

 **How long had he waited to hear those words. He willed his tears to stop, but they continued to flow. The dam holding in his darkness, feelings and memories finally released after three hundred years.**

A strong and warm wind began to blow upwards and around us, fallen leaves swirling around the two of us drying our tears, as if stroking at our skin and hair to comfort us.

 ** _"Kairen. You're still a crybaby, aren't you. Though you've grown so much, you actually look like a prince."_** **A giggled echoed within the wind.**

 **He was brought back to the past, a memory long forgotten brought forward by the airy, unknown voice.**

 ** _"Jeez you'll never look like a prince if you keep crying like that." Alessa scolded the young Kairen. "Here." She grabbed Kairen's arm and wrapped it with a piece of cloth. "Better?"_**

 ** _The young Kairen nodded while sniffling several times, tears still streaming down his cheeks._**

 ** _"It'll heal in no time, so don't worry." She smiled at him and handed him his short sword once again. "Keep practicing. It boggles my mind how you even injured yourself," she huffed, placing a hand on her hip while tilting her head questioningly._**

 ** _Kairen wiped his tears with his hand, his face now filled with determination as he practiced swinging his sword._**

 ** _"There you go. Now that's what a prince should look like." Alessa reached down to ruffle his hair and smiled._**

 ** _Kairen looked up to his elder sister and smiled. "So if I keep practicing, will I be like a prince when I get older?" he asked eagerly._**

 ** _Alessa placed a hand on her chin in wonder. She knelt down so she was at eye level with Kairen. "Hmm. That's right. But remember, princes' are also handsome, so you can't cry too much or else you'll be less handsome, then you won't be like a prince. Princes' are manly and cool. So you have to be like that when you're older okay?" She clapped her hands together._**

 ** _Kairen nodded. "Okay, I'll try not to cry anymore so I can be cooler and manly when I'm older, like a prince."_**

 ** _Alessa giggled at this, reaching towards Kairen, hugging him. "You're adorable. You're already my little prince, but there's always room for improvement."_**

 ** _Kairen hugged Alessa back and laughed. "Okay, aim to be a prince when I'm older!"_**

 **The voices of his memory began to fade slowly and he dropped his hand to his side while looking towards the sky. Letting his tears be dried by the comforting wind.**

 ** _"You're a prince now Kairen. I'm proud of you."_**

 **The airy voice began to fade as the wind slowed.**

Kairen reached his hand out towards the sky before the wind completely stopped, several pale pink petals falling into his hand. "Thank you Alessa," he whispered quietly into the calming wind.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Kairen laid in his bed quietly. I was sitting on the left side of him, knees pulled up to my chin, his back turned towards me. I wasn't sure if he wanted to be alone, or if should stay. I shifted to move off of the bed to stand up and leave, to give him time alone. But Kairen turned to face me and reached out to hold my wrist, still afraid that I might disappear before his eyes. I stopped moving and looked into his eyes, his face solemn and eyes holding anguish.

 **He was grateful for the words I had said to him, but the resurfacing memories of the time he spent with Alessa, along with her eternal sleep brought him a mix of nostalgia and pain that was too much for him to handle.**

He let go of my wrist and turned so he was facing me.

I sat back down and stretched my legs out in front of me propping myself up with my hands while staring at his bookcase from across the room. I let my mind skim through what had happened these past few eventful days, feeling exhausted. I glanced at Kairen thoughtfully, his eyes closed, as I brushed my hand lightly through his hair, pushing loose strands falling over his eyes away from his face. I knew now wasn't the time to joke around, especially with the way the both of us were feeling, but I wanted to say it anyway. "You should get a girlfriend, or propose to someone," I said in a serious tone while pulling my hand away from his hair.

He opened one eye and looked up at me, closing it once again. "I'm not in the mood to joke right now Aerei." He exhaled.

"I'm not joking though. During these times couldn't you cuddle with a girl in bed, having her comfort you, talking about your problems and stuff. Doing whatever couples do?" I was still staring down at him as I stretched my ankles, pointing my toes.

He stayed silent for a while before replying to my question. "I'm not interested in girls."

At first I didn't really process what he said, then I realized after a few moments and sat straight up. "Wait. What! Why didn't you tell me before?!" I was completely astonished by his confession.

"I didn't think it was that important."

"How could this not be important. I mean like you're not going to have an heir when you're older then?"

"I don't know. I'm not really interested in that kind of stuff, about heirs and such." Kairen responded, his eyes still closed.

I sat silently still comprehending his words. "I didn't know what your preference was. I apologize."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Kairen opened his eyes, lifting his upper body using his elbow to prop himself up, looking confused as he stared at me waiting for an answer.

"You said you weren't interested in girls." I tilted my head in wonder.

"Yeah. I'm not."

"So then you're interested in guys?" I questioned innocently.

The look on his face went from confused to even more confused. "Where did you get that from?"

"Well I assumed since you said you weren't interested in girls…" I trailed off, blushing at the thought of Kairen being with a guy as I pushed my index fingers together nervously.

Kairen stared for a while not saying anything. All of a sudden, a shy smile played at his lips as he looked away nervously, a blush washing over his cheeks. "Guess I was found out."

"So I was correct?" I watched him from the corner of my eyes, still pressing my index fingers together.

"Sorry I didn't tell you before." He pushed himself up, so he was sitting up straight, he bowed his head so his hair fell over his eyes, looking slightly embarrassed.

My blush deepened, I didn't know how to properly respond, but he had my full support. "I-I support your decision," I stuttered shyly. I felt my nose being pinched all of a sudden.

"Why are you the one blushing so much?" he wondered, as he struggled to keep his lips straight.

I pulled his hand off my nose. "The thought of you being with another guy…" I covered my mouth in embarrassment, I couldn't make myself meet his eyes. _Kairen and Karias together? Or even with Ludis?_ My imagination was killing me.

I heard him chuckling to himself.

"What are you laughing at?"

"You're so cute. That reaction."

"What?" This time I was the one that was confused.

"I was joking but thank you."

I looked at him in complete confusion, not understanding what he was talking about.

"It's nice to know that you'd support me, even if I liked guys."

"Wait. What!"

"When I said I wasn't interested in girls, I was talking about people like Rozaria and Seira, other nobles. The lord isn't even an option."

I slapped his head. "I completely believed you! I thought you actually liked guys!". I sighed. "Imagining you with Karias or Ludis…" I shook my head, completely flustered.

He laughed at me. "The look on your face! That was the best! And me with Ludis or Karias." Kairen had his hand over his stomach, he couldn't stop laughing. "That's unbelievable. Maybe with Lazark but…" He couldn't even finish his sentence he was laughing so hard.

"Kairen!" I whined. "You said you weren't in the mood to joke around." Though I was glad. The look in his eyes brightened and it calmed me to hear his laugh and see his smile again after such a difficult time.

His laugh slowly died down and he gazed at me, his facial expression serious. "After all, I have you."

"Huh?! What are you saying! You better stop joking. I'm serious." I watched him suspiciously, backing away quickly. Internally I was panicking.

"I'm not joking." All of a sudden I was pushed down onto the mattress, Kairen hovering over top of me. His eyes hidden by the shadows his hair cast over his face, so I couldn't see if he was joking.

"K-Kairen?! Stop playing!" The pitch of my voice was much higher than normal.

All of a sudden he lowered himself on top of me, his breath tickling my neck. I could barely feel the touch of his lips on my neck, as he slowly moved towards my ear.

"W-What are you doing?!" I stammered. "I'm your sister!" I pushed on his chest as hard as I could, but he didn't move at all. "You're being really creepy! Stop!"

Just as he was about to whisper something in my ear, the door opened suddenly. The two of us looked over towards the door. Father was standing in the doorway. Kairen was on top of me on all fours, his head dangerously close to my ear, while my hands were pressed against his chest. My father's expression darkened and an aura slowly started to surround him the minute he saw Kairen and I.

My father's voice boomed, a dark foreboding could be felt just by watching him. "Kairen. What do you think you're doing to your younger sister."

He immediately jumped off of me and backed away to the furthest wall. "W-Wait! I can explain, it was a joke! I wasn't planning on doing anything I promise." I peered into Kairen's eyes from across the room and could tell he was telling the truth.

"Kairen."

"I promise it was just a joke! I just wanted to scare Aerei, I won't do it again I swear on the Skyel family name."

"Pffffft." I covered my mouth, holding back my laugh. I wasn't going to save him this time.

"Aerei, tell him it was a joke! You know it was!" he pleaded with fear in his eyes.

Yes I knew it was fully one hundred percent a joke, but I wanted to see him suffer. I nearly had a heart attack when he said those words and pushed me down on the bed.

Father looked over towards me for confirmation but I was planning on feigning ignorance.

I stifled a fake sob. My acting was terrible, but father was too enraged to see that, or so I thought. "K-Kairen scared me."

He glared back at Kairen. "Kairen, prepare yourself." The energy around my father increased two-fold within a second just after my response. I didn't even see him rush towards Kairen, it looked as if he teleported in front of him. Kairen raised both his arms to block my father's punch. But it still sent him flying through the wall and into our courtyard.

I rushed over to the balcony and searched the ground below where I saw Kairen on the ground covered in dirt and debris from the wall. My father was already stood in front of Kairen. Kairen coughed several times, waving the dirt out of his face. "W-Wait!"

But my father didn't intend to wait, he attempted to land another punch onto Kairen since he was immobile on the ground. "You need to be punished."

His punch sent a cloud of dust swirling into the air. I had to wait until all the dirt and dust settled to see what was going on. Kairen was no longer buried in the ground, though my father's punch had left a considerable crater in the ground cracks spreading out from it along with dislodged pieces of the ground. I looked around but couldn't find Kairen. Until I noticed him in the air, landing on the ground away from my father.

"Father, if you'll please just listen."

"Kairen." My father's voice was stern, his expression serious. He had no intention of listening to Kairen. He rushed towards Kairen again, trying to land a hit on him.

Kairen was having difficulty keeping up with my father's speed, he managed to dodge almost every punch. Until contact was finally made with his cheek and stomach. He was sent flying into the forest, breaking the trunks of several trees as he slammed into them.

I heard the snaps of the tree trunks breaking and thumps of debris falling to the ground. I jumped down from the balcony and raced towards Kairen's site of impact, slightly worried for him. When I arrived to where Kairen had landed I saw that he was pressed against a large boulder. A small crater formed in the shape of Kairen's back and a web of cracks branching out from the point of impact. My father was standing in front of him calmly watching.

Kairen coughed out some blood, as he slid towards the ground. "I deserve that." A bruise began forming on his cheek and stomach immediately. "But why was there a boulder conveniently placed here." He sighed in pain.

I knew he had broken several bones from the sheer impact with the trees and boulder. "Pfft." I barely laughed held back a small laugh at the situation he was in.

"Kairen, I hope you learned your lesson."

Kairen attempted to stand up, and nodded his head in resignation. "I've learned my lesson."

"And Aerei." He turned to look directly at me.

I flinched at the look in his eyes, not expecting to be in trouble as well. His expression was unreadable but I knew he was not impressed.

"I hope you won't lie to me again."

I bowed my head in shame. "Yes father."

"I won't go easy on either of you next time." He turned and began to stride away back towards the house.

"Wait you knew I that I was telling the truth?" Kairen asked, dumbfounded.

"Bad joke Kairen," was all my father said as he disappeared into the distance.

Kairen wiped the blood from his mouth and sighed. "Sorry, that was a pretty lame joke." He grimaced in pain as he attempted to move his right arm. He stared at me, completely serious. "And just to be clear, I'm not interested in you like that, nor will I ever be." Just the thought of it nauseated him.

"Same goes for me." My face contorted in disgust. " Although I didn't think he'd go that hard on you, especially with what had just happened before that, and I apologize for lying." I eyed him up and down. Kairen was in pretty bad shape, though none of his injuries were considered fatal for nobles. "But wow, did you get beat up bad."

"Well, looks like father doesn't like jokes at all, although that was a horrible joke." He sighed. "And rub it in why don't you. I'm gonna head to the infirmary, you can come if you'd like." He took off back towards the house and I followed after him.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I waited outside the infirmary as Kairen had his wounds treated. I leaned against the wall and remembered what had happened just before that incident. My lips turned into a frown, remembering the look on Kairen's face as he spoke about Alessa. I heard the door open and Kairen stepped out, his shirt completely unbuttoned, though his entire upper body was nearly wrapped in bandages, including his arms. He had a small bandage over his right cheek where father had punched him. "Wow, it's that bad?"

"You try being punched by father when he's not holding back, and you're sent flying into several trees then a boulder and we'll see how you turn out." Kairen rubbed his right shoulder to ease the pain. "Good thing he didn't take out the soul weapon. It would've been even worse." His eyes darkened at the thought of what could've happened if father had his soul weapon out as well.

I heard from one of the helpers that the right side of his body sustained the most damage due to the fact the right side of his body was the first that came in contact with both the ground and boulder. His right clavicle was fractured, along with his scapula and humerus. He had several other injuries along the lines of internal bleeding, several broken ribs, fractures in his right iliac, and femur, and injuries to his muscles.

"Well, I don't think I deserve that so no thanks." Just looking at Kairen caused me to shiver in fear from realizing how powerful my father could actually be, and that was without him even using the soul weapon.

"Tch. You got off completely clean even though you lied to him."

I walked slowly beside him as he limped over to a vacant bedroom. His room needing to be repaired because of the hole in the wall. We entered the room and I watched Kairen crawl into the bed, laying on his back. I felt a little guilty, seeing him in a lot of physical pain when he was already suffering emotionally.

He sighed in agony as he stretched his limbs out. "Looks like I'm bedridden for a while." He raised his left hand to brush his hair out of his face, then rested his palm over his eyes. The depression that he felt just prior setting in once again.

"Do you want me to bring you anything?" I offered, my back turned towards him as I rearranged the books on the coffee table neatly into a pile.

"Mmm…" He hummed for a while before making his decision. "Tea would be nice," he said as he sat up, wincing in pain as he leaned against the headboard.

"Alright." I stepped out of the room to gather the materials and ingredients need to make the tea and brought it back to the room. I poured his tea into a teacup, letting the leaves soak for a while before handing it over to him.

"Thanks." Kairen sipped at his tea silently with his eyes closed.

 **Images and memories of his time with Alessa resurfacing once again, torment gripping his heart.**

I pulled a chair up to the bedside and sat down, grabbing a book off of the nightstand I began to read to myself. "Just let me know if you would rather be alone for now," I said, my eyes still focused on the book, flipping the pages rapidly in an attempt to block off my own misery from returning for now.

"Well if you've got things to do," he said as he tilted his head back, eyes still closed as he held his tea in his left hand. "I don't want to keep you."

 **He had tried to make his voice sound confident and reassuring, though deep down he hoped I would stay. Even though silent, having another person in the room easily brought solace for Kairen.**

I eyed him from the corners of my eyes not buying anything he had just said. "I know you want me to stay." I smiled knowingly looking back to the page I was studying.

Kairen cleared his throat in embarrassment and turned his head in the opposite direction of me to hide his glowing cheeks.

The two of us sat in silence, comforted by each other's presence.

Kairen opened his mouth, breaking the silence. "You know, you're a lot like Alessa right now." His head was tilted up, his half closed eyes looking about at the ceiling with a small smile.

I looked up from the book I was reading and gazed at him wordlessly.

He turned his head to towards me, returning my gaze. "She…" He trailed off.

 **It pained him to remember all those old memories that he had not thought about for years.**

"Alessa was a lot different compared to us. She was a lot like a mother in many ways."

I closed the book, listening to Kairen's words. I wanted to know about Alessa, who she was, and what kind of person she was.

"She was quite quiet and kind. Always taking care of me and watching over me whenever she could since father and mother were busy with family business and her…"

Folding my legs together, I nodded quietly, realizing that at some point, Kairen was in the position I was in.

"Since she was to succeed the family." He closed his eyes again and stared down into his tea, watching the steam rising. He started to trace the patterns on the teacup.

 **He remembered how hard she had trained for that position**.

"Whenever I got into trouble with our parents or other nobles, she'd always defend me," Kairen said, smiling at the thought. "Unlike us in that aspect." He passed a sideways glance at me.

Remembering what happened just an hour ago, when I hoped to see him get in trouble. Leading up to this point with him being stuck in bed for the next few days. "Eheheh," I chuckled nervously, looking away from him.

"She always acted older than her age. Well, she was still young as a noble adult, but you know what I mean. Behaving maturely in any situation, able to stay calm without letting her emotions affect her. To me, she was like a heroine of some kind of story." Kairen finally smiled warmly, the pain fading from his eyes.

I couldn't help but smile as well, glad he finally smiled genuinely with no anguish or guilt displayed in those irises of his. I propped my elbow on my knee and leaned my head onto my hand. "I wish I could've met her too."

His laugh rang like a bell in the air. "I'm sure you would've adored her."

"Probably a lot more, compared to you." My lips turned up into smirk.

Kairen sighed deeply at this. "It's as I thought." He took a sip of his tea and continued. "You look like her, but you're nothing like her."

I grabbed a pillow off the side of the bed and threw it at his face. "Hmph."

He smacked the pillow away with his right hand before it hit his face, grimacing in pain after that action. "Stop trying to injure an already injured person." Kairen attempted to pout cutely, the usual spark in his eyes had returned.

I just stuck my tongue out at him and then giggled. Just then the door opened so the two of us glanced over to see who it was.

"I dropped by to check you since I didn't see you training outsid-" Karias stopped mid-sentence when he saw the condition Kairen was in. "Whoa, you got totally wrecked."

"Thanks a lot for rubbing the salt in," Kairen said flatly.

Karias padded over to us and placed his hands on his hips. "But wow, you two are together today too? Just a couple weeks ago Aerei was snapping at you and was always irritable."

I puffed my cheeks and looked away from the both of them, crossing my arms against my chest.

"Ahh that. We resolved it." He finished his tea and placed the cup on the nightstand. "Anyways, why are you here?" Kairen inquired.

"You asked me to help you train a couple days ago."

"Oh right. Well as you can see…" Kairen looked down at himself.

Karias chuckled. "Man, what happened to you? Don't tell me Aerei did it."

"Pfft! As if she could do this to me."

"H-Hey!" I slapped my hands on my thighs in annoyance.

"Well I decided to play a joke on Aerei, but then father walked in and was really not impressed. That might even be an understatement considering the state I'm in," he huffed and shook his head, disappointed in himself.

Karias' eyes widened. "Your father did this to you? What'd you do to Aerei to make him so angry?"

"He was being a real creep." I glared straight at Kairen.

Karias looked from me and back to Kairen.

"Well at first I joked around saying I didn't like girls, pretending I liked guys. After that I told her I was joking and moved on to phase two. I told Aerei I wouldn't look for a girlfriend or propose since I had her." He sighed at his own stupidity as he reflected on his actions. "Then I pushed Aerei down onto the bed and I was on top of her. I going to whisper in her ear and tell her I was just kidding. I'd never date Aerei anyway, even if we were unrelated."

"Pssh. I wouldn't date you either, no matter the circumstance." I shook my head at him.

"Before I could tell her it was all a joke, father opened the door and saw me on top of her, and then this happened."

"I still think you deserve it."

Karias started to laugh at Kairen. "Man that sucks. But a joke like that, bad joke."

Kairen shrugged his shoulders and smiled reluctantly, his face painted with regret. "Yeah, at least father wasn't using his soul weapon."

Karias' face darkened. "Boy. If he used his soul weapon, I'm not sure you'd even be here right now."

Kairen's expression darkened as well. "Yeah, tell me about it." He sighed in relief.  
"So anyway, if you can't train, Aerei, you wanna try?" Karias offered turning to look at me.

"No thanks," I laughed lightly. "There are a couple things I wanna try out first."

"If you say so."

I watched the both of them chat, smiling as I slowly began to zone out. In the end I decided to let the two of them have some guy time together and left in the middle of their conversation. I began pacing around the house restlessly, trying to get my mind off the negative thoughts that refused to release me.

 _No, No! I won't let these thoughts take over. It's already done and over with. Father talked to me, and I'm okay with Kairen now. So why am I still so hung over this loneliness and sadness._ My voice rang out inside my head. I brought my hands up to my hair, grabbing chunks and pulling at them in an attempt to make these thoughts cease. I threw my head back, letting my arms drop to my side. _It's because I'm afraid it will happen again_. Tears began to stream down my cheeks again, I willed them to stop even though I knew I couldn't control them. _Why can't I be happy. Why can't I trust Kairen's words._ The questions piling and wrapping themselves around my brain. Before I knew it, a wall in front of me had a giant hole in it, debris spread all around me. My frustrations had gotten the better of me. The other nobles in the family glanced at me and quickly ran out of the area. _Great. Just what I need. I've caused myself another problem._ I crouched down in front of the wall and placed my hands on my cheeks, drying my tears. I opened my mouth, exhaling a deep shaky breath. I didn't know how long I had sat there hunched over for, but I knew it had been for more than a couple of hours. I finally stood up and decided to go out for a run, hoping I wouldn't run into anyone along the way.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Two days had passed, it was midday and I found myself standing in front of the house. Being away from the house along with the run had helped to clear my mind. At least keeping my depression barred for a small while. I knew Kairen would still be stuck in bed. I sighed and decided to go check on him. I thoughtlessly wandered over to the room where Kairen was staying and knocked on the door several times before entering. Once I opened the door I saw two female nobles fawning over him, I stood in the doorway for a while as Kairen and the other nobles stared back at me. I assumed they were trying to get cozy with him since he was the next family leader. I closed my eyes slightly and puffed my cheeks, turning away. "Sorry for intruding." I was just about to close the door when I heard Kairen's voice.

"Wait!"

I turned to look behind me again, my cheeks still puffed. "What? You guys seem busy," my voice holding no amusement whatsoever.

Kairen turned his attention to the two girls. "I'll talk to you guys later, okay?" He smiled at them sweetly.

Both of them whined at the same time. "Oh alright, we'll come back later." They waved at him returning smiles of their own before sauntering over to the door next to me, glaring straight at me.

I moved out of their way to let them past the door, shaking my head in their direction after they closed the door. I sighed, making my way over to Kairen's bedside. "Why'd you shoo them away," I questioned, tilting my head to the side. "It seemed like you were having fun with them." I sat down on one of the chairs next to his bed.

"Pfff. Are you jealous?" he snickered.

"Why would I ever be jealous of them." I turned my head away, crossing my arms.

"It seems like you are."

I glared at him from the corners of my eyes, not saying a word.

Kairen lifted a leg, resting his elbow on it and leaned on his hand so he was looking at me from an angle. "You are so jealous." He smirked at me.

I stood up and grabbed a pillow off his bed, continuously hitting him with it. "I already told you I'm not."

On instinct he raised his arms to block. "Then why are you acting like that," he laughed. "You even puffed your cheeks when you were standing by the door."

"No I didn't!" I whacked him as hard as I could for the final blow.

He grabbed the pillow from my hands and threw it to the opposite side of the room so I could no longer hit him. He continued to watch me with those eyes of his, knowing the truth. "So, where were you these past two days?"

I refused to look him in the eye, instead opting to stare at the wall behind him with my arms crossed in front of my chest. "None of your business."

"Alrighty then." We sat in silence for a mere few moments before he broke the silence again. "I need your help."

"With what?" I eyed him suspiciously.

"Help me change my bandages."

I stared at him for a long while before responding. "Why didn't you ask those girls to help you?" A tiny bit of annoyance echoed in my voice.

He closed eyes and released a sighed. "See, you so are jealous."

"Shut up!"

"So are you gonna help me or not?"

"Can't you do it yourself?" I asked.

"Well I can do the ones on my arms, but it's difficult to do the ones on my torso by myself."

I let my arms down, moving to kneel on the bed and gestured for him to move closer to me. "Take your shirt off."

Kairen began to unbutton his shirt while I reached over for the roll of new bandages. He tossed his shirt off to the side and shifted his position so that his back was to me. I examined his wounds as I unraveled his old bandages, seeing that they were still in the process of healing. After I had completely removed his bandages, I noticed the area on his lower back that had made impact with the rock was still a dark purple. I poked at it mischievously. Kairen flinched violently at my touch, his face wincing in pain.

"What are you doing?! Just start wrapping the bandage," he ordered, clearly not amused.

I nodded in response, chuckling slightly as I wrapped the bandage nicely at first, around his upper torso.

"So anyways, why were you jealous of those girls?"

I said nothing in response, trying not to let his words bother me. I had gotten around to the end of his ribs when he spoke again.

"Is it because I was giving them attention, and not you?"

I immediately tugged the bandages tighter at the sound of his words. "N-No!" I knew I didn't sound convincing with my voice stuttering and sounding high pitched.

Kairen gasped in pain at the sudden tightening of the bandages around his more sensitive wounds.

"Oops, sorry," I said apologetically, loosening my grip on the bandage as I continued to wrap it around the lower area of his torso.

He went back to joking. "So basically you're saying that you were jealous that I was giving them attent-"

I pushed Kairen's upper body down into bed so that he was face planting into the mattress, placing a foot on his tailbone and pulled at the bandage as hard as I could. "I already told you no!"

"Oww, oww! Okay!" He turned his head to the side gasping to get his words out, grimacing in pain. "But why were you stutter-"

I shifted my position so Kairen was laying completely flat on the bed on his stomach, and sat on his bottom, still pulling at the bandage. "I already said no a million times!"

"I was just asking a question!"

"You mean you're asking for your eternal sleep!" I was still gripping onto the bandage, my face completely red in embarrassment. I was glad that Kairen couldn't see my face. "Jeez! I don't see what those girls see in you! You blockhead!"

I finally set the bandage down into place, getting off of him, huffing angrily.

Kairen painfully sat up, looking behind his shoulder to glare at me. "What did I do wrong to deserve that?!"

My eyes were closed with my head turned to the right, arms crossed, cheeks puffed and painted red. "You tease too much!"

He bowed his head as he rubbed his back sorely, groaning in pain. "At least go easy on me. I'm still in pain," he grumbled

"You were totally asking for it!"

"Because you know you were jeal-" I swiped at him, wanting him to stop teasing me.

He sensed my intent to attack him and jumped off of the bed. "Woah, you have no mercy at all," he laughed lightly, though his face still displayed slight signs of pain.

I tried to throw the used bandage at him but failed horribly as it fluttered slowly to the ground.

He raised an eyebrow questioningly. "What was that?" he asked as he began to unravel the bandages on his arms.

I shook my head and laid down on the bed wrapping myself in the sheets. His scent that was contained in the sheets had completely surrounded me.

"Pass me the bandages."

I reached out to grab the roll and tossed it at him, still lying down covered in his sheets. I felt lazy and exhausted, wanting to do nothing for at least the next fifty years. After Kairen had finished bandaging his arms and cleaning up the old bandages he approached me with a strange smile on his face.

"What?" I wondered what he could be thinking.

Kairen began rolling me in the sheets into a sausage.

"Wait! Stop it's too hot!" I panted. But he chuckled as he continued to roll me up in the sheets completely covering every inch of my body except for my face. He had wrapped me too tightly so I would be unable to get out with my own power. "Kairen! Let me out!" I sighed, feeling the heat slowly building up. "It's hard to breathe!" I felt even worse since it was summer.

"That's what you get for wrapping the bandages too tight." He ruffled my hair happily. Then he sat on top of all the blankets which held me down even more.

"Get off!" I started sweating. "Kairen!" I whined.

"What?" He looked down at me with a smirk. "Apologize. Be nice about it, and I'll let you out."

I groaned, but I knew I had no other choice. "Sorry about wrapping the bandages too tight. Please let me out." I wanted to be freed from this tight sausage roll that kept building up more and more heat.

"Alright. That's how you ask for things." He began to roll me in the opposite direction. The sheets loosening around me.

I lied flat on my back, arms spread out gasping for air and was thankful for the cool air. I quickly sat up, removing my jacket and rolling up the sleeves of my dress shirt to cool down faster. "That was mean!" I glared at Kairen.

"You poked at my wounds and probably inflicted more damage on them." He shrugged his shoulders.

I grabbed the blanket with both hands and jumped on him, covering him with it. "Your turn!" I covered him with as much of the blankets as I could, sitting on top of the pile so he couldn't get out.

"My back! Don't sit there!" He yelped in pain.

"Pfft! You sound like an old man." I laughed holding the sheets down over him.

The door handle to the entrance of the room started to turn but we didn't notice, until the door was completely opened already and a person cleared their throat. We both turned to look towards the door, this kind of scene feeling very familiar. When I noticed who it was, I got off Kairen, and turned my head to the side.

"Hmph."

I never bothered to remember her name, though I knew she was a pureblood noble, a distant relative of the main family of the Kertia's. I knew she was around Kairen's age, possibly a little older than him and she had her eye on him for the longest time.

Kairen sat up, pushed the sheets away, and rubbed the back of his neck. "What brings you here?" he wondered nervously. He reached out for his shirt and began to rebutton it.

She took her glare off of me and looked at Kairen with googly eyes, trying to get a good look of his unclothed skin, but realizing he was covered in bandages. "I heard you'd been injured, so I came back to Lukedonia to check up on your condition," she cooed.

She stalked over, beginning to close the distance between Kairen and her. Before she could hug Kairen, I draped my arms around his shoulders from behind possessively, and rested my chin on his right shoulder. I didn't like one thing about this girl. She was stuck up, rude, fake, was always showing her clevage and skin and stuck to Kairen like glue whenever she had the chance. Kairen shot me a sideways glance before looking back at her.

"Tch." I could tell she was annoyed. Instead of trying to hug Kairen she took a seat on the chair in front of the bed. "I see that she still sticks to you like glue."

Kairen ignored her comment. "Thanks Estelle. I'm mostly healed now." He presented one of his best smiles for her.

"Don't be ridiculous, I saw you covered in bandages. You should let me nurse you back to health." She eyed him hungrily.

I felt Kairen tense under my arms at her offer. I glared at her, daring her to lay a hand on Kairen.

"No, it's alright. I'm fine. Really."

"Are you sure?" she purred, placing a finger on her lip delicately.

"Y-Yeah…" Kairen trailed off nervously, his forehead wrinkling in worry.

"At least give me a hug, I haven't seen you for so long." She stretched her arms out towards Kairen.

I immediately tightened my arms around him. "I'm not letting you touch him." I didn't want her near him at all, the tension between us skyrocketed.

"Oh come on. You won't let him even touch his betrothed?" She leaned back into the chair, returning my glare with the same intensity.

"If I recall correctly he turned down your proposal," I retorted. I smiled inwardly at the haughty expression she donned.

"Hmph." She stood up. "I'll come back another time, when _she's_ not here." Estelle pointed at me, knowing she couldn't insult me while in Kairen's presence. She turned on her heel and left the room.

Both of us sighed in relief, and I took my arms off of Kairen.

"I hate her." I ground my teeth and muttered less than kind words about her to myself.

Kairen just laughed nervously. "She is a strange one after all."

"Jeez, and you gave her one of _those_ smiles."

He ran his fingers through his hair. "I thought it'd make her leave faster if I showed I was alright."

"What if she got the wrong idea?"

All of a sudden several people marched into the room. I looked up to see Karias, Seira and Regis standing before us.

"I see that Aerei is as protective of Kairen as ever whenever Estelle is around," Karias joked.

My face had turned absolutely red, realizing they had seen the whole thing.

"I-I, t-that was…" I stammered, I knew I had no excuses that would sound believable. I bowed my head in embarrassment, grabbing the sheets to hide my face.

"I don't blame her. Estelle lacks even more class than the two of you combined." Regis gestured to the two of us.

Seira nodded in full agreement.

Kairen shivered in fear. "I'm glad for it though. It prevents Estelle from touching me and nursing me back to health, among other things. And it's cute to see Aerei get protective of me." He laughed lightly, ruffling my hair. "One of the nicer ways she shows that she cares about me."

My cheeks were burning, emitting more warmth than I would like.

"I apologize for Estelle's behaviour." A voice was heard from around the corner of the doorway. Lazark had entered the room, with Rael following close behind.

I had tensed at the sound of that voice, my cheeks becoming even warmer than before.

"It's no problem." Kairen replied. "I have Aerei to protect me anyway." He smiled.

"You're here to visit Kairen?" Regis asked the two Kertia's.

"I'm here to see Seira," Rael muttered to himself, approaching Seira.

Regis watched Rael warily and crossed his arms.

"I'm here to see Kairen," Lazark replied.

The Kertia and Skyel family could be described as close, similar to the Loyard and Landegre families. Although Kairen and I were much younger than him, Lazark had a soft spot for the two of us since we had grown up and trained alongside him.

Lazark watched Kairen questioningly. "How serious are your injuries?"

"Hmm they were pretty bad, though they're better now. Nothing life-threatening though."

He nodded, a look of relief passing over his face. "Is something wrong with Aerei?"

Kairen looked over to me and smirked. "She's fine, she just got into a small outburst with Estelle. I'm sure she's happy to see you. Right?"

 _That Kairen,_ I thought angrily. I dropped the sheets, fully aware that my face was still completely red. I bowed in greeting to Lazark and Rael. "I-It's nice to see you after so long. Though, you'll have to excuse me." I couldn't bring myself to look Lazark in the face, and I knew I needed to calm down. I jumped off of the bed and rushed towards the door as fast as I could.

Seira and Regis watched me confusedly, with Rael sighing in the background.

I ran to the nearest window and pushed them open as the rain slowly began to fall, I could still hear their voices in the background. My heart felt as if it would explode. I had been avoiding Lazark for the past eighty years, after realizing what kind of feelings I had for him.

I could hear Regis protesting loudly, assuming Rael had tried something on Seira.

"Looks like she's still at it," Karias chuckled. "Unrequited."

My cheeks flared in embarrassment from hearing Karias' statement, pushing the fact forward that Lazark most likely deserved someone better than me, that I didn't have the right to love him.

 **Lazark didn't understand, looking to either Karias or Kairen for an explanation.**

"Don't tell me you still haven't noticed Lazark?" Karias asked him, shocked.

"What do you mean? Explain."

 **Both Kairen and Karias sighed, not knowing how to explain this kind of situation, and not wanting to make the situation between Lazark and I even more awkward than it already was, for myself anyway.**

"It's something that you're going to have to find out yourself," Kairen stated.

"Does it have to do with the reason she's been avoiding me as of late?" he inquired.

"I'd go after her if I was you." Kairen said.

 **Lazark nodded, turning on his heel, leaving the room.**

"Poor Aerei. Anyway, why is the bed all messed up?" Karias' voice chimed in question again.

I remembered that there were several pillows on the floor, the blankets a crumpled mess hanging off the edges of the bed, and the pillows strewn randomly over the surface of the mattress. Leaving the room a mess just before our guests came to visit. The chatter in the room continued on, slowly increasing in volume.

"Ahh. A little outburst broke out after Aerei helped me with my bandages. I wrapped her in them and she tried to do the same to me." He laughed as Rael and Regis had gotten into an argument as per usual, with Seira probably listening quietly.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: The next chapter contains mild suggestive themes (not hardcore or anything), if you're not into that then I recommend you skip chapter 12/don't read it. Chapter 12 is where I plan to keep this story at as it stays on trial for the next few days/week.

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Chapter 11

I rested on hands on the window sill. _Man I have so many problems to deal with right now_. I breathed in the cool summer air, the scent of the rain and newly wet grass bringing some peace over my rapidly beating heart. I cleared my mind, listening to the rain, with the sound of soft chatter in the background, enjoying my time alone.

 **Lazark had found where I rushed off to as he stood quietly watching me stare out the window. He had never realized how much I had really grown until now since I had been always running away from him. His eyes trailed up from my legs, then to my arms and face. I was much taller than before, but was still short in comparison to the other nobles. He noticed that my arms had become much more slender and long, with my silver-grey hair cascading down to my thighs in soft waves and curls, some falling over my left shoulder. My eyelashes had grown much longer, cheekbones more prominent, framing my features beautifully, a taller nose bridge, along with rosy lips that had become much fuller. A stark contrast to the way I had looked eighty years ago when I was still very young, my hair choppy, thin and short, and my visage exuding more boyish features. When I used to follow Lazark everywhere when Kairen was busy, attempting to imitate his every action. The thought of how I had grown, bringing a small blush to Lazark's cheeks.**

"Aerei."

I jumped at the sudden sound of his voice. I didn't realize his presence until he spoke, as expected of the family leader of the Kertia's. I hesitated for a moment before turning to meet Lazark's eyes.

He began to make his way toward me.

My legs and heart were telling me to run, but my brain telling me to stay. I attempted to calm myself down by examining what he had worn today. He was dressed in a simple white dress shirt with a casual black coat with gold detailing, that hung down to his calves, black pants, and tall boots reaching up just below his knee with the gold trim that many of Lukedonia's apparel seemed to have. His hair fell perfectly over the left side of his cheek, framing his face. He was just a few inches away from me, towering over me with his height. He was slightly taller than Kairen.

He stared down at me in silence until his lips parted. "Why won't you say anything?"

I tore my eyes away from our shared gaze and looked out the window. "So you still haven't noticed," I said quietly to myself, bringing a hand up to brush a few strands of hair behind my ear.

Lazark heard what I said clearly, it was similar to what Kairen and Karias had said earlier as well.

"I'd like it if you could explain," he asked softly, tilting his head.

I peered at him from the corner of my eyes and sighed. "It's not easy to explain." I struggled with what to say next but couldn't think of anything. I closed my eyes and lowered my head.

"I'm sorry."

I looked up at him in surprise wondering why he was the one apologizing.

"Have I done something causing you to want to avoid me?"

"Of course not." I shook my head and smiled kindly.

This gesture surprised Lazark, though he didn't show it outwardly.

"I didn't want to avoid you. But I just did on instinct. I'm sorry…" I trailed off, no longer able to meet his eyes.

 **He watched me, remembering how small I always was, bringing forward a wish that was buried deep down under untouched depths. The wish to protect. He touched my cheek involuntarily. Lazark suddenly realized what he was doing, feeling as if he had gone mad since I was not even an adult yet.**

I looked up at him again, astonished by this gesture.

"I apologize," he said sheepishly, immediately taking his hand away.

Before he could fully remove his hand, I placed my hand over his, blushing at the feeling. I smiled at him shyly, wondering if he finally understood now. I took my hand away, expecting him to pull his away as well, though it stayed. Instead he had brought his face much closer, my eyes widening and lips opening in surprise. He tilted his head to the side, his lips brushing ever so slightly against mine. I could feel his breath, warm against my skin. I began to close my eyes, slowly leaning in as I gripped his arm.

"Aerei?!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin, startled from the sound of my name being called at the end of the hallway behind me. I pushed at Lazark's chest to separate the two of us before we were seen.

Lazark pulled away and turned towards the window, his cheeks flushing at the thought of what could have transpired.

My mother appeared from behind a wall at the end of the hallway.

"Yes mother?" I was struggling to keep my voice steady, knowing my cheeks were already red.

She approached the two of us with swift steps. "Ah Lazark, it's nice to see you here."

He bowed his head formally in greeting. "Yes, pleasure to see you." His cheeks still stained a slight pink.

"Please give these to Kairen next time you see him."

"Of course mother." I took the books from her hands and bowed to her as she went back the way she came.

As I came to realize what had nearly happened, I froze, afraid to turn towards Lazark. I dropped the books clumsily, barely able to control any physical function. I knelt down to pick them up, Lazark doing the same.

"Let me carry them for you." His voice sounded steady, though his face was still pink and his heart rapidly beating against his chest.

I nodded in response, only noticing just now that I wasn't breathing. I exhaled shakily and drew in several deep breaths as Lazark collected the books. Lazark stood beside me, holding the books. I stood up as well, and we walked in silence back towards the room. As we arrived at the room, everyone was already saying their goodbyes. My eyes were fixed on the ground, my objective being to not meet Lazark's eyes.

Kairen was sitting on the bed as everyone else was filing out of the room as he waved at them.

"Then I'll see you next time." Lazark bowed his head, handing me the books as he watched the top of my head in embarrassment.

"Yes, of course." I returned the gesture, taking the books from his hands.

Lazark started to walk away, following after the others.

I sighed, turning to watch his back. When they had turned the corner, and I could no longer see Lazark, I moved towards Kairen and handed him the books, carefully avoiding his gaze. "Mother said to give these to you."

He took them from me and placed them on the nightstand, staring at me expectantly.

I face planted into the bed, not wanting anyone to see my face.

Kairen smirked, having an idea of what happened. "So, did you kiss?" He asked bluntly.

I muffled out a word salad, nothing I had just said making any sense. My face flushed, reliving that moment again in my mind. I began to roll into a ball with the sheets, not caring that it was too warm.

"Well, judging from the look in your eyes, it looked like you guys had just about made it to first bas-"

I sat up with lightning reflexes, placing a hand over his mouth. "Don't say it."

Kairen had laughed in response to my reaction. He placed a hand on my wrist, taking my hand away from his mouth. "So am I right?"

I nodded, staring at my lap as I pulled my hand away from his grip. Then I began to wonder if it was a mistake to tell Kairen.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: **This chapter CONTAINS MILD SUGGESTIVE CONTENT, so avert your eyes now and click back if you don't enjoy that kind of stuff. It's not anything hardcore.** Also I'm going to leave this story here for a while. Thanks to those who actually enjoy this story, and kind of understand my POV? Haha :) Read my A/N's on chapter one or four to try to understand the POV I was going for (since I don't wanna go back to rewrite the entire story in third person omniscient /crying).

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Chapter 12

After I had made sure Kairen had everything he needed and was comfortable enough, I went up to my room to rest and calm my mind. I sat on the window couch, pushing it open, letting the chilling breeze brush against my hot skin. The moon was high in the sky, a cloudless night, as I gazed up at the milky way in clear view. I brought my fingers to my lips shyly, thinking about what had happened with Lazark. _There's no way he could've felt the same, he was always so much older, and mature compared to me. Could he have though?_ I wondered, lost in thought. I thought about the times when I used to run to Lazark when I had gotten into a fight with Kairen, and he'd help me sort out my feelings, and when he taught me how to sneak and tail enemies, which I still had difficulty with today, among various other memories. I stood up and stretched as I began to undress, making my way to the bathroom to have a soak and wash up.

After finishing my bath, I dried my hair with a towel as best I could. I pulled on my underwear and decided to wear just a long, loose, plain white button-up, v-neck t-shirt since it had been so hot during the day. I decided to read a book to distract myself from tiring thoughts, as I waited for my hair to dry. I sat at my desk, opening a book about the history of the different noble families. Several hours had passed and my hair was fully dry. I closed the book, turned off all the lights, and made my way over to the window couch again as I curled up and watched the trees below me shiver against the wind. I sat up, immediately feeling a presence behind me. My eyes widened in surprise. "Lazark?"

He nodded quietly as he strode towards me, taking a seat to the right side of me as he watched me with an intense gaze. He was in a much more casual outfit than before, presenting a normal white button-up dress shirt, black pants and normal black shoes.

I blushed, realizing my attire was not fit for this meeting. I tugged at the hem of my shirt to cover as much of my thighs as I could, and then realizing again that this shirt didn't button all the way to the top, revealing slight cleavage as I pulled it down. I felt like a complete mess. I stood up, completely flustered. "J-Just let me get dressed. I apologize-"

Lazark grabbed my wrist and shook his head. "You don't need to." He pulled me back down to sit down with him on the couch.

His words startled me, I had not expected those words. I looked at him in uncertainty, wondering what he was thinking about.

"I wasn't planning on seeing you so soon again," he said quietly, turning away from me to stare down at his lap.

The moonlight reflected off of his hair and skin, casting shadows, making the features on his face look much more prominent. I realized just how handsome he was, forgetting what had happened the day before, just a few hours ago.

He looked over at me since I had been so quiet, his eyes meeting mine. He blushed as his eyes trailed down my shirt, noticing just how low it really was. He pulled his eyes away from my chest and returned to my eyes, his cheeks still pink.

I giggled nervously at his reaction to my shirt. "I'll go get dressed if you feel uncomfortable," I offered again.

At this, Lazark just shook his head.

I smiled, finally realizing why he had come to see me again so soon. I reached out with my right hand, placing a hand on his cheek gently to turn his head towards me. Our eyes met, my cheeks already pink from remembering what had happened. I brought my face nearer to his, though I began to hesitate. But he leaned down to me, his lips brushing against mine. I closed my eyes, sliding my hand down to the back of his neck. I felt his hands on my shoulders, as we both leaned in, our lips pressed against one another.

My lips parted in shock when I felt his hand slide down to my thigh. Lazark had taken this opportunity to slide his tongue into my mouth exploring every crevice as he pleased. At first I was taken aback, then I slowly started to respond to his actions. I pressed my tongue against his, preventing him from entering my mouth. I slid and twisted my tongue against his, knowing he wouldn't give way so easily.

Soon we both gasped for air, slowly opening our eyes to gaze into each other's eyes. He guided me to lay on the pillows as he leaned over me.

"Lazark…" I whimpered. My hands were placed on either side of his arms, my knees slightly bent inwards.

 **He gazed down at me and saw how vulnerable I was. He wanted to be able to protect me and stay with me more, but he knew that would be difficult, as it always had been since he was the family leader. He was always busy and could barely spend time with me.**

Lazark brought his head down to my neck, and sucked lightly, leaving small marks all over. Slowly he began to run his tongue down my neck to my chest, stopping where the first button of my shirt started where he sucked for a while.

I moaned quietly, gripping at his arms tighter.

He shifted backwards and watched my reaction as he ran his hand down my thigh.

I shivered under his touch, looking into his eyes seeing that they were glazed over.

He leaned over me again on all fours, lightly pecking me on the cheek. "You've grown," he whispered into my ear. "Beautifully…" he trailed off, taking my earlobe into his mouth, as I felt his breath on my neck. "I love you…"

 **He had always felt somewhat attached to me, that deep down he really did just love me for who I was as a person. As I had continued to grow he felt that his love changed into something more, but he always suppressed it, knowing I was too young, not yet even considered an adult noble. But he finally decided to show how he felt about me.**

I was surprised but pleased to hear his words. "Mmm… I love you too..." I brought one of my hands to his head, running my hand through his golden hair. He pulled away again, and this time I brought my hands to his cheeks pulling him down towards me, wanting to feel his lips against mine. He parted his lips to allow me entrance to his mouth, I explored his mouth to my heart's content, before we began to wrestle for dominance again. Our tongues sliding together in unison, silent moans escaping our throats. Lazark leaned back as we both panted for air.

I sat up, resting my hands on his shoulders gently pushing him down onto the couch. I straddled his hips, hearing a strained moan escape his lips. I smiled at the sight of him like this, the Kertia family leader and my first love, a faint blush tinting my cheeks. I leaned down, feeling his hands gripping my hips, as I pressed my lips against his neck multiple times. I moved away, beginning to unbutton his shirt to reveal his bare chest. I ran my hand over his abdomen, brushing my fingers dangerously low, next to the hem of his pants. I continued to kiss his chest feeling a slight pressure under me, flushing profusely.

Lazark chuckled lightly at my reaction. "Sorry," he breathed, sounding airy, almost like a whisper.

We began to kiss again, much more passionately than before. His hands buried in my hair, our moans mixing together. He slightly shifted his hips, causing the both of us to moan in pleasure.

"Ahh…"

"Nnnngg… L-Lazark…" I had never felt like this before, it felt as if I was being carried through the air.

My shirt had slid off of my right shoulder sometime during these events, exposing a little of my underwear, causing Lazark to blush at the thought of just seeing me in my underwear. Lazark moved backwards to lean against the pillows, causing friction between the two of us again.

"Ah." My breath quivered in pleasure as I heard Lazark's breath hitch. I wanted more of him, but I knew we had to stop somewhere. I leaned down to rest my head on his chest, still straddling his hips. Our breaths began to even out again as we calmed down. Lazark's scent encased me, sweet like honey, he smelled so very familiar. We both looked out the window watching the leaves blow and float in the wind, taken farther away than they ever have been before. He wrapped his arms around my waist lovingly, not wanting to let go. I listened to his heartbeat through his chest, as it slowly lulled me to sleep in his arms.

In the morning my shirt had slid up as I twisted and turned, completely exposing my underwear. "Awake?" his voice rang softly, as I opened my eyes sleepily. He was still gazing out the window, watching the sunrise.

"Mmm…" I rubbed my eyes, I hadn't fallen asleep in a long time and had forgotten this feeling. "Lazark?" I questioned, feeling lethargic.

"Hmm?" he hummed quietly, still resting his arms around my waist.

I shifted so I could look into his scarlet irises. Then I remembered what had happened. I blushed and looked away from him before he could return my stare. I tried to sit up and move away but he wouldn't allow me. He held me down on top of him, liking the way we fit together. "Lazark? Aren't you busy today?" I asked. Usually Lazark was always busy, he rarely had time for me, even when I was younger which eventually caused us to drift apart. I looked up at him from where I lay on his chest.

He closed his eyes and sighed. "Yeah…" He released me so I could sit up and move, as he sat up himself, and re-buttoned his shirt.

I stood up, my shirt falling to the middle of my thighs, barely covering my bottom as I padded over to one of my dressers pulling out the clothes I'd need for today. I stood up, ready to turn and face Lazark to say something. Though he had already closed the distance, his arms were already wrapped around my waist, my back pressed to his chest, he moved so quietly that I never noticed him.

He leaned his head down to place a kiss on the top of my head. "I'm sorry for only noticing your feelings recently," he muttered apologetically.

I laughed at his response.

 **My laugh sounded like music to his ears after he had decided to let himself love me.**

"It's okay, if you had noticed any earlier anyway, I'd have been too young. Even now, I'm still quite young compared to you." He turned me around so I was facing him. He looked down at me with a soft stare, as I brought my hand to his cheek. "You'd better hurry, or you'll be late."

He nodded with a light smile on his face, putting his hand over mine. "I'll come visit you and Kairen next time." Lazark pulled away and stalked off towards the balcony, opening the door, disappearing quietly.

There were questions I wanted to ask him next time. Whenever next time would be. I unbuttoned my shirt, letting it pool around my ankles. I pulled on a normal white shirt and black pants, picking up my night shirt and folding it neatly, placing it on top of my dresser.

I hadn't really comprehended what had happened with Lazark yet since I had not expected any of that to happen. When I sat down on my bed and really thought about it, I was almost bared before him in my underwear, save for the shirt I wore. Not only that but I undressed him from his shirt and pushed him down onto the couch. I never thought once in a million years would I have the chance to do that. It slowly dawned on me how close we could have been to making love if we decided to continued. My cheeks began to burn as I nervously left my room to head to the kitchen. I walked in a daze remembering the events of last night, our lips melding against each other's bodies and tongues, how I straddled his hips. My steps faltered and I grabbed onto to the bannister of the stairs to support myself before I fell down. I shook my head, placing my hands on my cheeks, feeling the warmth of them. I breathed out knowing I couldn't act so nervous around others, for fear of arousing their suspicions. Especially Kairen. But in truth I felt like I would faint from embarrassment. _Had I really done those things with Lazark?_


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

My bubble was burst when I heard Estelle's laugh from the kitchen. Immediately my attitude had changed, and I stomped off toward the kitchen knowing my day had already been ruined despite the great start. I stood at the doorway of the kitchen, glaring at Estelle. Her arms were wrapped completely around Kairen as he struggled to move around the kitchen to make a meal for himself. Both of them noticed my presence. I looked from Kairen to Estelle. One look from the helplessness in Kairen's eyes and I already understood what to do.

"Oh, good morning to you," she chirped, happily showing her affection for Kairen through her embrace.

I walked over to them, grabbed Kairen's wrist attempting to pull him away from Estelle. "I believe this belongs to me."

"Actually he's mine." Estelle gripped onto him tighter.

 **Kairen sighed inwardly, asking what he had done to deserve this, all he wanted was to eat. He knew that as long as Estelle was in Lukedonia, he wouldn't have peace at all.**

I glared at her with unforgiving eyes, prying her hands off his waist, a dark aura surrounding me. "You're wrong. This," I pointed at Kairen as if he were an object. "Has belonged to me since I was born."

"But I've been around longer than you have, so he's mine," she whined.

"It's mine," I stated. I managed to pry her arms off of him.

"So I'm an it now?" he sighed, trying to move between the two of us to the dining room.

I closely followed after him to prevent Estelle from touching him. Kairen sat down, and I sat on his lap. Kairen wasn't amused but he'd rather have me sitting in his lap than Estelle running her hands all over him wherever she pleased, rubbing her chest against his arms on purpose, and attempting to feed him.

"Even for siblings, isn't that going too far?" Jealously was apparent in her voice as she sat down next to Kairen glaring at me.

"Sorry, I'm not even an even adult yet, and this belongs to me anyways. It's just my comfort object." I began to pick food off of Kairen's plate, helping myself to his meal.

"Go find another comfort object, like a teddy bear," she offered sarcastically.

"Estelle, its fine. I don't mind having her sitting on my lap, and even eating my food," Kairen said, knowing that she wouldn't argue with him. Though the last part I was skeptical about.

"But she always calls you creepy! So why is she being like this?!" She stomped her feet under the table.

"Because you're creepier than him already, and I don't want you touching him because you're so creepy." Static flew in the air as our glares met each other's eyes. My eyes continued to darken in hatred the longer I stared at her.

"Shh." Kairen forced a spoonful of food into my mouth knowing that if I kept talking, she wouldn't stop whining. "Eat."

"That's not fair! Feed me too!"

I knew Kairen was getting annoyed at her behaviour, but he had never snapped at her.

"There's food in the kitchen if you want to eat, help yourself," he offered, smiling lightly as his eyebrow twitched.

"It doesn't matter! I just want to be fed by you!" She kept whining.

I was slightly afraid. Kairen had tensed up, clearly annoyed by this point, bordering infuriated. Though as usual, Estelle infatuated with Kairen, failed to see this. When Kairen was angry, he was terrifying.

Several of our family members stood at the door, watching the display knowing they should stop Estelle before Kairen exploded. They brought out some food for Estelle in an attempt to calm her down. "Estelle, please help yourself." They gestured to the food openly, not wanting Kairen's fury to flare out even more. Not much ever made Kairen this frustrated, but Estelle was one of them, and even then, not once before had he ever snapped at her.

I was worried that if Kairen let his anger flare up any further, the kitchen and dining room would be completely destroyed and we'd have a new situation to explain to father and mother. "Kairen!" I whispered, looking behind me pleading for him to calm down with my eyes. His hands were visibly shaking and his breaths were short and quick.

He saw the look in my eyes and our family members, and attempted to calm down, breathing in deeply, trying to find his center.

"Nononono! That isn't good enough!"

His center was slowly fading due to Estelle's constant whining, crying, along with thoughts about her clinginess. The situation was rapidly getting worse, and I began to panic internally. It was difficult to stop Kairen once he started on a rampage. Estelle grabbed my wrist trying to pull me out of his lap, I didn't think she'd touch me openly while Kairen could see. But I was almost grateful to her since I knew there was no stopping Kairen now.

He slapped her hand away from me and I jumped off of his lap and ran towards my other family members behind the wall, knowing well what would ensue. The three of us hid behind the wall and watched the two of them. "Don't touch Aerei." His voice was low and dangerous, he glared indignantly at Estelle. "I wish you'd stop whining and constantly clinging to me." He dropped his utensils and stood up from where he was sitting. "Oh. And I wish you'd stop fighting with Aerei as well." The look in his eyes had darkened as a jet black aura began to swirl around him.

"Oh no," I pronounced. "This is not good." I ran to Kairen, grabbing onto his arm, trying to get him to calm down. "Kairen, please not here! Father will kill us!" I pleaded. I shrunk in fear when he looked down at me. Crap.

He lightly pushed me away, gesturing me to move away while I still could. This action had caused the other family members to flee. I ran out of the dining room in an attempt to find mother, luckily she was nearby.

"Oh-ho, so this is the terrifying Skyel temper I've heard all about. I've heard it was difficult to extract it from you guys, and that couldn't be more correct." Estelle's voice was dripping with lust. **She placed a hand on the table as she stood up.** "Just watching you like that makes me want you even more."

 **Kairen smirked dangerously, looking down at her.** "You sure about that?" **The aura visibly slinking around his ankles and back.**

"Makes me wonder how you'd be in bed," she laughed derisively. **Estelle returned a sweet smile of her own.** "After all, this always sweetly smiling, handsome face of yours needs a look like that once in awhile."

"Hmph." He began chuckling in amusement from her comment. **A sadistic smile spread over his face.** "Wouldn't you like to know." **Kairen held his hand out, his sword appearing as if it had materialized out of nowhere.** "I'm tired of you always acting however you want." **His sneer had faded by this point, and he was devoured entirely by his enmity.**

"I've waited so long to see you like this, but you controlled your emotions so well." **She donned a weapon of her own, two short daggers, a weapon Kairen was familiar fighting against since I used similar weapons.**

I had brought mother just in time as I darted after her into the dining room.

She stormed in, her voice filling the air. "What do you think you two were planning on doing in my dining room?" An aura of her own swirled up around her as she looked from Kairen to Estelle. "And you." She grabbed Kairen's ear. " You should be resting, not starting a fight." My mother's voice had taken on the dangerous tone Kairen had just displayed earlier.

"Oww!" Kairen's aura dissipated, his animosity reverting.

"And you." She glowered at Estelle. "If my son says he doesn't want you, you should stop."

Estelle dropped her weapons, consumed entirely by fear.

"How dare you even think of taking him to bed when he already refused you!" She snapped loudly, her aura seeming to grow, filling the entire room with an ambience of dread.

I watched the scene play out, peeping my head from behind the doorway of the dining room watching Estelle getting roasted by mother.

"I-I apologize," she quietly stuttered, falling to the ground in complete shock.

Mother let go of Kairen's ear and smiled sweetly as if nothing strange had happened earlier, and her aura dissipated as well. "Good, enjoy your meal now." She sauntered out of the dining room.

I snuck behind Kairen who was just stood quietly with his hand behind his neck comprehending what had just happened. I sat in his seat and began to eat his plate of food.

All of a sudden he turned around and looked at me. "Why are you eating my food when you can get your own?" he questioned, sighing as he grabbed another plate of food and utensils.

I shrugged my shoulders and continued to eat the food he hadn't finished contentedly. He took a seat next to me and we ate in silence. Estelle picked up her daggers, promptly standing up from where her legs gave out in fear, and left the room. After we felt her presence disappear we both let out a sigh.

"Man, mother really got you guys there," I snickered. "And the look on Estelle's face after she told her to leave you alone." I couldn't stop laughing.

"Well at least you found her in time and brought her here before a fight broke out." He poked and prodded at his food with his fork. "I don't think she's gonna start leaving me alone just after that though." Kairen lips drooped into a visible frown, looking displeased.

I nodded in agreement solemnly. "And I don't think you realize how scary you are when you're angry." My expression dimmed when I remembered the look on his face just moments ago.

He continued to eat mindlessly. "Really?"

"Yeah. You, father and mother all get the dark aura swirling around you, and then the looks on your faces change." I shuddered, thinking about a possible aftermath if that happened to all three of them at the same time.

"Hmm, I never realized that on myself. But I do notice when it happens to mother and father." As he ate, he noticed several red marks covering my neck. This concerned him. "What happened to your neck?"

At first I stared at him not understanding what he was talking about, and then realized. Crap, why didn't I wear one of my white shirts with the long collar today. I kept my outward appearance calm and cool, using my hair to cover my eyes so he couldn't tell that I was having a meltdown internally. "I. Uh. My neck was itchy so I kept scratching at it. Yeah." I nodded as if to convince even myself.

"Hmm. Really?" The sound of his voice showed that he wasn't convinced at all. He thought as he ate, wondering what had happened to cause those red marks on my neck. "What, did you talk about with Lazark yesterday?"

I jumped at the sound of him pronouncing Lazark's name. I hadn't heard in what context he used Lazark's name due to my internal panicking and embarrassment of being found out. I laughed nervously, picking at my food. "W-What about Lazark?"

He squinted his eyes at me. "So it has something to do with Lazark, doesn't it?"

I was trying my utmost best to remain calm in this situation, but it wasn't working at all, my voice shaking each time I spoke."Umm. N-No."

"Well judging from your reaction from just hearing his name, it has to be." He tapped his fork on his plate, staring at me. "Let me guess."

"Please don't guess." I turned my head away from Kairen meekly.

He leaned his head onto his hand, smirking in enjoyment from my discomfort. "You did something indecent with him."

I stood up and hit the table with my hands. "I-I…" I knew how absolutely ridiculous I would sound if I tried to make some kind of excuse in this state. "No!" was all I could say. My voice was shrill, face painted a deep red as I stared down at my plate of food, technically it was Kairen's plate of food, in complete embarrassment.

"Hmm. So my innocent sister has finally grown into a woman," he joked as I continued to fidget under his stare. He sighed out loud and waved his fork at me. "I don't know why you bother to hide things from because one, you suck at it, and two, you already know that we can basically read each other's minds."

"Well this is embarrassing to talk about." My cheeks flared even more.

"I won't tell anyone," he said as he continued to finish his food.

I looked at him from the corners of my eyes and sat down. "Really?"

Kairen nodded. I was convinced at first, but then he opened his mouth again. "I wonder if I told father though."

My expression darkened at the thought of father knowing. "Don't tell anyone please, especially father," I pleaded desperately.

"That his precious, not even an adult yet, daughter was fooling around with the Kertia family leader behind his back," his voice sounded sing-songy as he chuckled at my reaction.

I grabbed his arm from across the table. "If you tell anyone, I'm not going to forgive you." I puffed my cheeks out and stared at him angrily.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He pulled his arm away and laughed. "It's so easy to tease you."

"You tease way too much." I rolled my eyes at him.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Kairen and I were over at the noblesse's mansion once again after a month and a half. As usual the noblesse was either quietly looking out the window or sitting down with us, drinking his tea. I asked Frankenstein to teach me about anything since there wasn't much to do for me in Lukedonia, except train by myself, occasionally speak to Lazark and the other nobles, and bother Kairen when he wasn't busy, which was very rarely. Frankenstein had pulled out a book about the human body. He talked about various muscles and bones within our bodies, while pointing to pictures. He'd occasionally demonstrate where the muscles were on me, by pointing and poking so I could get a better idea.

I watched and listened intently as Frankenstein explained the basics of anatomy to me.

"The muscles most commonly known as the biceps is called biceps brachii." He pointed to where they were on my arm, smiling at me. "It has two heads, a long and short head." He pointed to the pictures in the textbook.

He continued to explain more about muscles and the different muscle types. All the while the noblesse and Kairen watched and listened. After he began to speak of various things about the cell cycle, muscle cells and regeneration when muscles were damaged. I took interest in this as I knew when humans sustained severe wounds, sometimes they would never be completely healed perfectly, compared to nobles who were had superior regeneration and healing when it came to severe wounds. By the time he finished his lecture on muscles and bones I learned all two hundred and six bones in the human body, and had also learned about a muscle in the human leg that seemed to be disappearing among humans called plantaris.

I stretched after his long lecture and smiled at him. "I never knew there were that many bones and muscles in the body," I exclaimed happily.

He laughed lightly. "Yes there's quite a few, isn't there?" He picked up the book and placed it away, then refilled our cups of tea.

"Thanks." I picked up my teacup, feeling the warmth of the tea through glass before taking a sip and placing the cup back down on the table.

"How long did it take you to learn about those muscles and bones," I asked, looking up at him as he sat across from me.

Frankenstein crossed his legs, staring back at me with a kind smile. "Well I learned them when I was quite young still, but it did take me a long while to learn them all and memorize them by heart. It still mesmerizes me how nobles are able to pick up on material like this so easily sometimes."

"Oh, how old were you back then, when you finally learned this stuff?"

"Maybe in my early teens." He laughed again. "I know that seems very young to you, but for a normal human lifespan that would've been less than a fifth of our lifespan, on average anyways, without sickness or accidents. Halfway to adulthood."

I widened my eyes in surprise. "Sometimes I forget how short humans' lives can be. Hmm." I looked down at my lap in thought. "Early teens, still a child? Then you'd have still been quite young to be learning these things I assume?" I wondered as I raised my head and gazed at him again in interest.

"Ahh. Yes, I took an interest in human anatomy and physiology at a young age."

"For any particular reason?"

He sat in thought for a moment quietly. "For one it was always quite interesting to me, the human body and how resilient it could be at times when you'd think it would give up." He paused again. "I used to help out in a small clinic, I guess you'd call it that today. In those times it was very hard to heal and treat, we didn't have the technology we do today." His expression slightly changed. "I saw many terrible things, due to wars or accidents. Things as simple as small cuts to dismemberment and severe wounds. Or illnesses that were incurable at the time, taking many lives as they were spread from person to person. Hygiene wasn't a priority back then. And so I decided to learn more about the body, for the sake of humanity."

I smiled at him kindly. "That's very noble of you. Helping out those who are hurt and weak, to aid the growth of humanity."

 **He smiled back, but deep down he felt as if he didn't deserve it. He thought of the dark times in his past, it was for the humans, but somewhere down the line he had turned his back on morality and ethics. He began to crave knowledge, so far as to experiment on himself, and then on others without their consent.**

Though his smile seemed warm and welcoming, I could sense unrest within him. I peered into those cerulean irises of his, wanting to understand more about what was eating at him. But I stopped myself, knowing that it wasn't appropriate to be asking him about something that seemed personal enough for him to suffer. Our relationship was still quite at a platonic level.

"Wait, now that I think about it. You've actually lived much longer than normal humans do. How old are you anyways?"

"Much older than you and your brother are actually." He laughed jokingly.

My eyes widened. "Hmm." I looked down and thought for a moment. "I heard you were lurking around Lukedonia, before the noblesse disappeared. So you're even older than the vast majority of the current family leaders, in Lukedonia."

"Correct." He nodded his head, taking a small sip of his tea. All the while, the noblesse and Kairen had not spoke a word since the beginning of this meeting, quietly just listening the drinking their tea occasionally.

I reached for my teacup, holding it in my hands, letting the heat seep through the glass and into my hands. I watched the steam slowly swirl and rise before it dissipated into the cooler air. "Speaking of which, how did you meet the noblesse?"

He flinched at my question, a nervous smile spreading across his face. "W-Well."

I turned to look at the noblesse in question, the corners of his lips turned up into a small smile.

"He had snuck into the mansion and pretended to be a butler here," the noblesse said as he reminisced on his past memories, a thoughtful and content expression displayed on his face.

Frankenstein rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "At the time, I thought it would be a great excuse. Logically speaking, it was a large house and of course you'd expect at least more than one person living in a house this big." He closed his eyes, releasing a small sigh as he smiled. "But the only person living here was master."

I giggled at the thought of that sort of situation. "That sounds quite silly. What did you think of that particular instance?" I directed my question at the noblesse.

The noblesse hummed softly before responding. "I didn't really think much of it, other than the fact he was wearing my shirt, at the time."

"Pfft." I held a hand over my mouth to stop my laugh from escaping. "I'm sorry."

"M-Master…"

"You snuck into his mansion and took one of his shirts?"

Frankenstein shook his head, a few chuckles escaping his lips. "I didn't think he'd notice that I took one of his shirts. My own outfit at the time had been ruined since the family leaders were after me, I had planned to hide in the mansion until I could get away."

I couldn't stop myself from laughing at how silly Frankenstein's actions were, knowing the circumstances of the noblesse's empty mansion now.

 **Of course I didn't know why the family leaders had been chasing him, it was a fragment of his dark past.**

For just a brief moment, I saw a dark look pass over his usual smiling visage, but that happy smile he always had, had already replaced the darkness that loomed over his face. A part of me still wanted to understand, but I decided not to press on. I finished my tea in several gulps and placed the cup down on the table. "Well, thank you for having us today." I smiled at Frankenstein and the noblesse.

Frankenstein returned the smile, as the noblesse slightly nodded.

"Of course. Our pleasure," Frankenstein replied happily as he stood up, walking towards the door.

I poked at Kairen's cheek seeing as he hadn't made a sound for the entire duration of our stay. "We're leaving now."

His eyes widened as if coming out of a trance. He turned towards the noblesse and Frankenstein. "Oh! I apologize."

We both stood up, bowing to the the noblesse as a sign of respect and parting before heading towards the door.

Frankenstein opened the door for us, leading us down the hallways. "No worries. I'll escort you to the door." We arrived at the front door, Kairen bowed to Frankenstein before walking out the door.

I chose to stay behind for a while, debating whether or not I should say something to him. I met his gaze with a small smile, taking a wild guess at what was bothering him behind that cool demeanor he put up. "You know, everyone makes mistakes in their lifetime. But our past doesn't define who we are as people now, it's the decisions we decide to make from today onwards."

Our eyes were caught in an intense stare for several moments, before he bowed his head slightly, a pained smile passing across his lips.

I took this as a sign to leave, stepping outside and bounding down the steps. I slowed down and stopped to turn around, seeing Frankenstein standing in the doorway I raised a hand and waved before turning away again, chasing after Kairen.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

 _I had sobbed, walking alone through the deepest parts of the forest, not wanting to be found. Small rays of sunlight poked through the thick foliage, illuminating a small path._

 _I had gotten into an argument with Kairen earlier since I was in the weapons room, which I had been forbidden to enter, since I was still too young. Kairen found me in the room trying several of the weapons out without any supervision._

 _For the next few weeks after meeting with the noblesse and Frankenstein for the second time, I had trouble concentrating on training. Instead I'd let the hours and days pass by idly as I lost myself in forgotten memories that seemed to keep resurfacing for no particular reason._

 _"Aerei I told you you're not allowed in here." He had been clearly unhappy and quite unimpressed with my actions._

 _"I just wanted to see."_

 _"That's still no reason for you to be in here, and alone at that." There were clear hints of annoyance in his tone._

 _He grabbed my arm in an attempt to drag me out of the room. I pulled my arm out of his grip and stopped in my tracks. "I don't care! I just wanted to try!"_

 _He turned so he was completely facing me, his face expressionless but his tone stern and filled with fury. "Aerei Skyel, do not use that tone of voice with me."_

 _Kairen reached for my arm again, but I had moved away before he could touch me. I knew he was enraged by now. I returned his stare with a defiant one of my own, feeling slightly afraid but not willing to show it. "Why does it matter?! It's not like mother and father said anything anyway!"_

 _"You know father already told you that you can't be in here."_

 _I turned my head away, staring at the swords leaning on the side of the wall as I held my tears back. I clenched my fists before speaking. "Mother and father only ever give you attention," I whispered under my breath._

Kairen had cared for me since I was just a baby because my parents were busy with family business. But mother and father would still fawn over me and spend time with me whenever they had time. Though once I was old enough to handle myself, in terms of bathing, changing, feeding and taking care of myself, my parents' attention shifted away from me, to Kairen. I had help from the other nobles in our family, but that wasn't anything like the attention you get from your own parents.

 _I looked back at Kairen, his glare had softened and he reached out to me. Before he could say anything more I had dodged his hand and ran out of the room and out of the house. Not to my room where I normally hid after I had gotten in trouble, or when I wanted to cry by myself._

 _I wandered around the forest rubbing at my eyes angrily and in annoyance. "No one understands how I feel, because I don't act like a normal noble." I fell to my knees and stared at my lap for a long time. "Then it's my own fault. It's because I'm not like a normal noble." I cried silently, the tears plopping down onto my dress. "If only I hadn't been like this. If only I didn't care so much about having the company of other people, the attention of my parents, of those closest to me!" I yelled at myself out of confusion and anger. "Why couldn't I be more like Seira." She was always calm and collected._

 _Before I realized it the sun had already set, and even though I was a noble, it was too late for me to be out this late since I was still a child, almost considered a baby by the other nobles. I crawled towards the base of a tree, laying down among the moss and dewy grass. "It doesn't matter anyway. They wouldn't care if I disappeared," I whispered out loud to reaffirm my own belief. I closed my eyes and lay there, thinking about the convenience it would give my parents and Kairen if I wasn't around to cause trouble. My heart hurt at the thought of this as I was on the verge of tears again. I heard my name being called out in the darkness, worrying that someone had found me, but I didn't bother to run or hide._

 _"Aerei?"_

 _I heard Lazark's voice behind me, but I still refused to move._

 _"Kairen and your parents are out looking for you."_

 _When I still didn't respond, he pulled me up so I was standing on my feet, but my head was still bent, carelessly gazing at the ground. I heard him sigh out loud as he took my hand and walked me back towards the house._

 _I resisted. "I don't want to go back there." He stopped walking and looked down at me. Unexpectedly I heard him speak._

 _"I heard about what happened." He paused before continuing. "Kairen only said those things because he was worried about you."_

 _I looked up at him questioningly and in surprise. I had always thought Lazark was quite cold and quiet. I was slightly afraid of him, and hid whenever I saw him. "How would you know that?"_

 _"Because I'm an older brother too." He looked away and started to lead me towards the house again._

 _I stared at his back, contemplating his words as I realized he had a soft side. "You're a lot kinder than you look."_

 _He turned back again to meet my gaze, his eyes slightly widened with surprise._

 _"I always thought you were cold and scary," I said as I grinned at him. I saw his lips turn up into a small smile as he let a sigh out from hearing my words, amusement dancing behind his scarlet irises. "How come you came to look for me though?"_

 _Lazark turned his back to me, and was silent for quite a while before he answered again. "I visited your house and heard from your family members that you were missing, and that your parents and Kairen were out searching for you."_

 _As we arrived at the house, I could see the glow from the lights, and the silhouette of my parents and Kairen standing outside with some of the helpers. They immediately turned in our direction as they saw Lazark and I appear from the woods. I let go of Lazark's hand and ran towards my family, tears streaming down my cheeks._

 _I had no intention of telling my parents about wishing I had more attention from them. I knew father was busy as the family leader and the both of them tending to Kairen's training personally. It was selfish of me to think that way._

 _I crashed into Kairen, burying my face in one of his legs as I cried. I felt his hands reach around my body as he lifted me up to carry me. I didn't want to see the look on my parents' face since I knew they'd be displeased with my actions. So I buried my head into Kairen's neck, laying my head on his shoulder, as I quietly struggled to stop my tears and hiccups. I finally turned and looked at my father and mother._

 _"Aerei. I hope you won't do this again." The wind softly blew as my father long, straight, silver-grey hair danced in the wind. His face was expressionless, his voice void of any emotion but his words strong. The emotion hidden in his irises betrayed the look he displayed outwardly though. They were filled with relief, knowing that I was safe._

 _The look on my mother's face softened when she saw the disheartened look that was displayed in my eyes. "Aerei, please don't go into the weapons room without permission as well." Her own long and wavy silver-grey hair skittering around her waist._

 _I nodded at both of their requests, not saying a word. Lazark had approached us, and the helpers bowed and scuttled away to give us privacy._

 _"Thank you for finding her." My mother's voice softly chimed into the summer night, thankful for Lazark's actions._

 _Father had also bowed his head in appreciation._

 _Lazark bowed himself and said, "Rael has done this many times in the past, so it was not a problem at all." He turned his attention to Kairen. "Then I'll stop by tomorrow instead." He gave him a knowing look before disappearing into the night._

 _"I expect you to watch her until she calms down," father said before walking away towards the direction of the castle along with my mother._

 _I had went back to resting my cheek on his shoulder so I didn't have to look him in the eyes. He stayed silent as me carried me back into the house, setting me down on one of the couches in one of the parlors as he looked down at me before kneeling down so we were at eye level. I refused to meet his eyes, crossing my arms over my chest._

 _"Aerei, I'll spend time with you whenever I can, okay?" His voice was soft and apologetic._

 _"Hmph. Why would I ever want to spend time with you." I glanced at him briefly before looking away again._

 _He sighed, pinching one of my cheeks. "You're always like that."_

 _"Oww! Let go!" I yelled at him. I grabbed onto his hair and yanked at it._

 _He winced in pain, letting go of my cheek. "Okay okay, you let go," he said as he pried my fingers off his hair. "You're not a cute little sister at all."_

 _"Hmph. Who said I wanted to be cute anyway."_

 _"You say that, but I know you're happy with what I just said earlier." He took a seat beside me as he smiled._

 _I grumbled to myself, throwing myself down on his lap as I stared up at him angrily. All of a sudden he had began to tickle me. "No! S-Stop!" I managed to say between fits of laughter. I heard his laugh echo my own. I pushed myself away from him and attempted to glare at him, scooting away to the furthest end of the couch. "Don't do that again."_

 _He just laughed at my response and stood up walking towards the door. "It's time for you to eat. You haven't had dinner yet."_

 _I jumped off the couch and followed after him, eager for the idea of food._

Since then Kairen, Lazark and I had become close, before I slowly drifted away from them again. Rael never really bothered with Kairen or I, though he occasionally acknowledged us whenever he had come to visit us, which was only when Lazark had forced him to tag along.

I exhaled as I rolled around in the grass to clear my thoughts. The heat of summer making me feel more lethargic than usual. I sprawled out, staring up into the clear blue sky thinking about how much time had passed since then.

"What are you doing?"

I heard Lazark's voice chime into the quiet midday air. As usual, I could never sense his presence until he spoke out loud. I tilted my head back against the grass even more and saw him standing a few meters away from me, in my upside down vision. "Nothing."

He stalked over towards me and sat down beside me. "It seems like you're bothered by some thoughts," he stated at he held my gaze.

I propped myself up on my elbows, pushing myself up off the grass so I could sit up straight beside him. "Not bothered per se, but more like I've been remembering some memories," I said as I broke our stare and looked down at my feet. We sat in silence, a small blush washing over my cheeks as I remembered that specific night I spent with him. Even though several weeks already passed since then, I would usually revert back to my shy self whenever I was around him. I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes, and saw him immediately turn away, knowing he was thinking about the same thing I was thinking about. I thought his own display of embarrassment was quite cute.

"What kind of memories did you remember?' he inquired, still not meeting my eyes.

"Hmm, that time when I ran away from the house and you found me in the forest."

"Ah." Lazark smiled as the memory of that day long ago also returned to him. "You were tiny back then, and your hair extremely short," he said as he reached out and held strands of my hair in his hands.

 **He also remembered the way I acted around others back then, when I held no femininity at all and was always arguing and getting into fights with Kairen. I'd walk around the courtyard of our house crying by myself, where he'd usually find me whenever he visited.**

I laughed at his comment, visualizing how ridiculous I looked back then. "I cried a lot back then as well." A cool breeze swept through the field, gently ruffling our hair and ends of my coat and Lazark's cloak, the grass swishing and dancing before us. I pushed my hair out of my face continuing my sentence after the breeze died down. "And you'd always somehow be there reassuring me that Kairen was only angry with me because he cared." I met his gaze, a small smile playing at both of our lips as we reminisced together.

"You'd never understand the struggles of being an older brother." He stretched his legs out and leaned back on his hands.

I giggled as I let myself lie against the grass once again staring up at the sky before Lazark hovered over me, staring into my eyes. I brought my hand to his cheek and smiled at him. "Thank you for taking care of the younger me."

"Of course…" he trailed off as he leaned down to place a small kiss on my cheek.

The two of us existed in in our own world before we heard someone clear their throat somewhere behind us. The two of us separated abruptly and turned to the person in question.

"Karias?!" I could feel myself already flushing profusely. Lazark was coughing in embarrassment with his eyes closed, his cheeks stained a faint rosy colour.

He approached the two of us with a grin, kneeling down between us wrapping his arms around our shoulders. "What's this? A young love sprouting under this gentle summer heat?"

"N-Na!" I couldn't even control my own mouth as I continued producing unintelligible sounds. "I. W-Wa."

Karias couldn't help but explode in laughter at my reaction. "Were you two planning on hiding this? How far have you already gone? Oh wait…" He sat silently in thought for a moment. "Aerei, I didn't realize you liked older men," he chuckled jokingly since he knew I already knew that he knew I had feelings for Lazark for a long time.

I pressed the palm of my hand into his face pushing him, wondering how long he had been watching us.

"Now, now don't do that." Karias shook my hand away from his face.

I looked away from the both of them in an attempt to hide my complete distress. I puffed my cheeks as an automatic response, feeling Kairen's presence nearing.

"Hey Kairen, did you know about this vital development?" Karias' voice echoed, right as Kairen arrived.

I shook Karias' arm off my shoulder and stomped towards Kairen, slapping his arm.

"Oww! Don't take your anger out on me," he whined, rubbing his arm to ease the stinging pain. Kairen moved away from me and grabbed Karias' arm, dragging him away from the two of us. "Let's leave those two alone for now."

"Wait! I have questions I want answered!" Karias' voice faded as Kairen dragged him towards the eastern courtyard used for training.

I sighed and buried my face in my hands not knowing what I could expect from the other nobles now that Karias knew. I saw a shadow cast over me through my fingers. I looked up to see Lazark standing in front of me, still averting his gaze with pink tinted cheeks.

"I'll help you with your training if you'd like," he offered.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "Sure. I've been slacking off in my training as well," I said quietly, accepting his offer.

He nodded his head and took off towards our western courtyard, which was also used for training. I followed closely behind him, still feeling the warmth of my cheeks.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: I randomly made up the Skyel's type of power, so if it doesn't make sense don't pay too much attention to it since it's not a core part in the story.

* * *

Chapter 16

"Is there anything in particular you want to work on?" Lazark asked as he tilted his head, eyeing my small frame.

I lowered my head in thought. "Hmm. Well since you have Kartas you wouldn't have difficulty with this at all." I raised my head, placing a hand on my hip. "Stealthing. Or rather for the Skyels, we use mantras, somewhat as an enchantment to fool our enemy's senses. The duration of an enchantment depends on the the person's mental state, concentration, will and skill of repeating the mantra perfectly when chanting in their minds, and also requires an immense amount of training and meditation to master. It's similar to mind control, though we use our auras to target specific senses of our enemies, on top of mind control, should the enemy be a difficult match up, or if they are too powerful to mind control. In particular, I have the most difficulty with keeping the enemy's senses fooled about my presence when trying to attack them at the same time. I can't use mantras to a greater extent yet, due to the fact that I'm still not an adult, but I still want to practice, and this also being the longest and hardest mantra to master." I shrugged my shoulders as I continued on. "The only person in my family who has ever been able to continuously use this mantra for extended periods of time is Kairen, and even then I've heard that this isn't the full extent to which this mantra can be mastered." I saw Lazark's eyes widen at this fact.

"Not even your family leader can use that mantra to the extent Kairen can?" Lazark asked to confirm his thoughts.

I shook my head at his question. "Not without his soul weapon. Kairen seems to be particularly gifted with the use of mantras, using them very efficiently, considering it uses a great amount of energy without the ideal or proper conditions. Mantras are physically and mentally taxing to use without proper training and meditation, even still with these things it places quite a burden on the body since it also calls upon the manipulation of our aura. The way I've heard this mantra was mostly used was in small and short bursts in quick succession to other mantras that were used to confuse the enemy's other senses. Along with mantras, I'm sure you've heard we also use our aura to manifest physical armaments, the number manifested depending on the strength of our aura and the control we have over it as well."

"Hmm… I knew some of this to an extent since I sparred with Kairen several times, and experienced some of the effects first hand."

I saw a confused look on his face and laughed continuing to explain to him. "We basically just manipulate our auras with total accuracy to completely overwhelm the enemy's specific senses, rather than as a whole. This is especially useful if the enemy too powerful to overwhelm with just the sheer power of our auras. It's much easier for us to target a specific sense, and confuse it. Like illusions for vision, similar to your ability, and creating phantom noises to confuse the enemy's hearing. Skyels just like to mess with the enemy's brain and mental state with their auras."

He nodded slowly.

I raised a finger and smiled. "As a demonstration…" I cleared my mind and began to chant the mantra to confuse hearing in my head, manipulating my aura to attack his sense of hearing.

Almost immediately Lazark flinched as he raised his hands to his ears.

"Do you hear that?" I asked as I kept smiling at him, directing my aura to make my voice sound like an echo around him while also formulating the sound of a small bell chiming every second in the background to confuse his hearing even more.

He lowered his arms and looked over towards me. "It's different from Kairen's."

I stopped chanting the mantra in my mind and nodded. "The effects of the mantra used may be different, depending on the user's desired effects." I laughed realizing this had instead turned into me teaching Lazark how the Skyels' fought. "Anyways, this is what I have difficulty with." I concentrated on chanting the mantra to conceal my presence. I knew I could only hold this enchantment for a mere three seconds without it failing. Within those three seconds I attempted to attack Lazark, my concentration slightly faltering.

He easily side stepped away from from my attack, and jumped back several steps. "Hmm, I see."

I cleared my mind and stood straight as I watched him. "It's something I need to practice while sparring with someone." I quickly moved towards him as I began to repeat the mantra over and over in my mind, working on my concentration as I practiced attacking with basic hand slashes, within each of the three seconds I had during my stealth. "So if you don't mind."

Lazark dodged each of my slashes easily. He moved quickly behind me, aiming to push my back.

I gasped in surprise, feeling his palm graze my back lightly, just before I jumped away. I sighed and took a deep breath remembering I needed to stabilize and keep my mind calm in order to effectively use this mantra without wasting energy. I kept at it, holding my concentration as best I could while swiping at him. Ten minutes had only passed and I already felt exhausted. I could feel I still had a long way to go with this as my concentration always slightly faltered causing me the fumble the words of the mantra, each time I swiped at him. Time continued to tick as I watched him easily avoid all my swipes. He would gracefully jump backwards at each swipe which begun to annoy me, along with the fact that I knew he was going easy on me. I barely dodged his own assaults in time. I sighed and breathed in to catch my breath, sweat beads forming on my forehead as l chanted the mantra in my mind. I could feel another presence fast approaching, and turned towards direction the person was approaching from.

"Brother, you shouldn't go easy on her." Rael glided down from the trees and stood elegantly between the two of us, as his long white shirt settled and flowed down, neatly falling at his thighs. His arms were crossed against his chest as he turned from his brother to raise an eyebrow at me.

Rael and I didn't get along sometimes, but overall our relationship was mostly based out of respect for the other, with his occasional teasing. I knelt down on one knee, feeling the effects of overusing this mantra since I was still at a stage where I was still practicing meditation and chanting at the beginning to intermediate stages. I lifted a hand, pressing my fingers hard against my temples, willing the pounding to stop, as I ceased the words of the mantra from continuing in my mind.

"Hmm, how long have you been going at this for?"

The world around me was spinning so I squeezed my eyes shut as hard as I could as the feelings of nausea begun to set in. "About half an hour." My voice sounded airy and spent.

"That's not bad for someone as young as you."

I heard his footsteps nearing my position. I opened an eye to look up at him as he held a hand out. "Pff. It's not like you to give out compliments," I said, reaching out for his hand, hoisting myself up so I could stand. The second I was up on my feet I staggered, almost falling over if not for the fact that I was holding onto Rael's hand.

"Looks like you overused your energy," I heard him say as he let go of my hand, letting me fall into Lazark's arms.

I hadn't even realized he moved behind me. I tried to balance myself, pushing myself out of his arms. "Sorry. I'm fine." The tone of my voice was shaky, sounding unconvincing to even myself. As soon as I was free from his touch I almost tumbled back to the ground, the two brothers gripping onto my forearms before I fell.

"You call this okay?" Rael snickered.

"Oh shut up." I felt too weak to make proper retorts to Rael's teasing. Feeling Lazark's worried gaze from the side of me I turned to meet his gaze, smiling weakly to ensure him that I was okay, though he looked completely unconvinced.

"Let me carry you back."

My face burned in embarrassment at his offer. "I'm fine, you don't need to do that."

"You can barely stand up straight," Lazark stated.

"Scratch that. You can't even stand by yourself," Rael said as he let go of my arm so Lazark could lift me up.

"W-Wait! Put me dow-" I felt a sharp pain shoot through my skull. "Ugh…" I groaned in pain as I massaged my temples. _Maybe I should just let him carry me back._

"Better not overuse those mantras next time," Rael taunted before I blacked out.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Weakly I opened my eyes, staring up at the pale white ceiling of my room. I attempted to sit up, failing miserably as I felt dizziness and nausea overtake me. I shut my eyes, collapsing back onto the bed.

"Don't push yourself."

I heard Kairen's voice chime out to my left. I turned my neck slightly, opening my eyes halfway as Kairen's blurry form appeared, and then to the right seeing Lazark standing with Rael. Blinking a few times and rubbing my eyes tiredly, the images around me finally became clear.

"We'll get going now." Lazark padded towards the door with Rael. Before he completely left the room he turned his head to glance back at me, the look on his face seemingly expressionless. "Aerei… Get better soon." Then he continued towards the door and left, closing the door behind him.

I heard a slight amount of worry in Lazark's last words.

"What happened anyway?" Kairen asked as he placed a cold towel over my forehead.

I shut my eyes, the light from the evening sun blinding my eyes and causing me to feel worse than I was already feeling. "Overused that mantra," I answered as I placed the back of my hand over my eyes.

I heard him sigh. "I told you specifically not to overuse that mantra, especially since you haven't had your coming of age ceremony yet."

I stayed silent before letting the words slide out from my lips. "You don't have to take care of me you know," I said drowsily. "You should be training. We have helpers anyway."

Even though my eyes were closed I could feel his heavy stare burning into my head. Cold splashes of water started to hit my face and I removed my hand from my eyes and swiped at Kairen blindly.

"Pfft. Looks like you're fine. I'm going to go back out and finish training with Karias okay? Call me if you need anything."

I heard the sound of door closing, sensing his presence move farther away, back towards the courtyard.

 _Ugh… I feel horrible, and after all that, I'm not even sure if I improved at all._ I turned onto my side, holding the cold towel over my forehead. I could feel the pulsation of the muscles around my skull. Feeling exhausted and sick, I let my thought process drift away as slumber grabbed onto consciousness without mercy.

I woke from my restless sleep, the moonlight refracting off of the sheen of sweat that had formed over my skin. I still felt nauseated and exhausted, as if I hadn't gotten any rest at all. The dream I had, or rather nightmare, seemed to be the cause of that as I had been thrown back into the past, straight into the mouth of my worst fear; loneliness, desolation and despair latching onto my mental state and heart once again. I shuddered, pulling the blankets tighter around me, trying to convince myself that everything was okay, as I had been trying to do whenever these bouts of fear struck me. Deep down, I was always afraid of being alone. Tears threatened to spill over my cheeks again. I curled into the fetal position, covering myself with the blankets, mind linking with Kairen.

 _K-Kairen?_

 _You're up now? Is something wrong?_

 **When I didn't respond, he knew something wasn't right. He stopped what he was doing, dropping his pen, and quickly made his way towards my room.**

I sensed his presence advancing. The door to my room opened, without bothering to turn on the lights he slowly closed the door and sat on the edge of my bed pulling the sheets down.

 **He could sense the unrest and fear that emanated off of my being.**

I hid my face in the mattress, shivering. All I felt physically was a chilling feeling that seemed to engulf every part of my body as if cooling my core body temperature. I heard Kairen get up off the bed which struck me with worry. I turned to search for him in room in a panic, though he was already making his way back to me with a towel in his hand.

Kairen sat back down on the bed, placing the palm of his hand on my forehead. "You're covered in sweat and you're burning up." His brow wrinkled with worry. He lifted his hand and dabbed at my face with the towel. "How are you feeling right now?" he asked, striding over to my closet grabbing a plain t-shirt off the hangers and handing it to me.

"A-Awful." My eyes were still watery, and the nauseating feeling along with the cold I felt lingered heavily. Still shivering, I took the t-shirt out of his hands.

"I'm going to go get you some food okay?"

I simply nodded. When I heard the click of the door closing, I forced myself to sit up. The dimensions of the room whirling around me before I shut my eyes. I unbuttoned my shirt, letting it slide onto the floor along with the towel, and weakly pulled on the t-shirt he had handed me. I fell back onto the bed wanting the pounding, nausea, and fearful thoughts to stop bombarding my already wearied mind and body. Minutes passed and I heard the door open again, the smell of food wafting around the room . I slowly opened my eyes when I heard the click of the lights turning on, watching Kairen place a bowl of soup and glass of water down on the nightstand, before closing my eyes again.

"This is why I told you to take care of yourself," he sighed, picking up both my shirt and the towel, placing them on back of my chair. "Think you can feed yourself?"

I pushed myself up off of the bed, propping up some pillows behind me for support. "I can try," I said as I reached for the bowl of soup.

"It's hot, so be careful."

Nodding at his comment, I lifted the spoon to my lips weakly, tasting the broth. Kairen took a seat in a chair next to my bed, engrossed in a book containing information about the Skyel family's skills. We sat in silence together, with him reading his book, and I slowly sipping away at my soup and water. Slowly the pounding in my skull and feelings of nausea lessened, while Kairen's presence brought some comfort, easing my fear, and the soup warming my stomach. The door opened without warning, hitting the wall violently. Startled, I looked up to see it was none other than the blonde woman who was so fond of Kairen.

 _Why does she always show up when one of us is sick or in bed._

Kairen hadn't even bothered to look towards the door.

"I came to visit you both as soon as I heard Aerei had collapsed during training," Estelle trilled happily, strutting over to where Kairen was sitting.

 _What a joke, you're only here to see Kairen since I'm stuck in bed and can't defend him._ I growled slightly at her unsightly appearance. As usual she was showing far too much skin than I would like; dressed entirely in black in a v-neck longsleeve that dipped far too low, a miniskirt and her classic black strappy, ankle stilettos.

She stood behind the chair Kairen was sat on, leaning down to drape her arms around his shoulders as she ran her hands down his chest.

"Estelle please," Kairen protested, attempting to nudge her away.

"Please what?" She trailed her hands back up his chest, unbuttoning the first button of his shirt. Aiming to touch his bare skin, she let her fingers wander over his exposed neck and clavicle.

I was on the edge of exploding at her, the only thing holding me back was the fact that I still felt much too frail, lightheaded and nauseated to take proper action against her behaviour.

Kairen dropped his book on his lap, grabbing her wrists to push her hands away. "Don't touch me like that," he complained. "I don't like it."  
"Ooo, always playing hard to get." Estelle shifted her position, instead she pushed the book off of his lap and sat in between his legs. "And Aerei, that glare of yours. You really don't like it when I touch your dear older brother like this?" She blindly reached behind her, running the back of her hand down his cheek.

Not being able to take it anymore, I chucked my spoon. The intended target was Estelle's face. But as expected, she caught the spoon in her hand tossing it back in my direction, landing in the bowl perfectly.

"Estelle, if you want to sit, sit over there." Kairen sounded exasperated. He gestured towards a chair on the opposite side of room as he attempted to push Estelle off of his chair, but failing to do so. The expression displayed on his face between irked and jaded.

I continued to glare daggers at Estelle, wishing that she would show herself out. I wouldn't be able to recover in peace like this. "Estelle," my tone sounding sickly. "Please just leave."

I heard her chuckle innocently at my request. "Now, why would I do that?" She waved her hand to visually deny me. "Anyway, I hope you feel better soon Aerei." She smiled as she rested a hand on Kairen's upper thigh.

I watched Kairen get up, lifting his leg awkwardly over the chair since Estelle refused to move. He sat down on the bed next to me as he checked my temperature. "Looks like your temperature went down slightly."

I nodded as I smiled weakly at him. "Yeah, I feel a little better," I commented, handing him the half-filled bowl and empty glass.

"Good," he said. "I'll take these down then." Kairen sauntered out of the room with Estelle following close behind him.

Closing my eyes, I allowed time for my brain and eyes to rest from the constantly spinning images of the room. "How could this happen when I was having such a great week." I sighed, sliding down to rest my head on the mattress. I brought my hand up to my cheeks, they were damp with tears I didn't notice that I had shed. Pursing my lips together I wiped my tears away furiously with my bedsheets. "Why, after months did these feelings come back again. These memories," I muttered. "When I already know I don't need to worry about being left alone anymore." Letting my frustrations get the better of me, I curled back into a tight ball. Nobles were supposedly very powerful, but then why, why did I feel so weak? Why were my emotions chaining me back when most nobles didn't bother with trivial things like this. My past reached for me, grabbing onto my ankles, reminding me that if Kairen, and only Kairen, were completely removed from my past, I'd have spent the majority of my life alone in solitude. My parents were busy since they tended to the clan's and lord's needs, Lazark was busy since he was the Kertia family leader, and there were no other nobles that really bothered to entertain my requests, or that I was close to. Everyone was too busy for me. Or maybe I was just too selfish.

"Are you okay?"

I heard Kairen's worried voice somewhere through my racing thoughts. When he didn't receive any kind of answer he began to rub my back gently.

I sniffled quietly, his actions bringing some solace to my rampaging emotions. Forcing my thoughts away from these distressing ones temporarily, I asked "Where's Estelle?"

"I made her leave."

Silence completely surrounded us as I lay in bed with Kairen gently rubbing my back, until the thoughts slowed, with my eyelids heavy, and I drifted back into another restless sleep. Slowly, I awoke once again, this time feeling a presence behind me. It was still dark and and lights in my room were off. The only source of light coming from the moon that was still suspended high in the starless sky. I didn't recognize the person right away due to my drowsiness. I bolted upright, turning towards the person, using my blanket as a shield as I scampered to the far end of bed.

"Go away!" I slurred as I shook in fear, with the cold I felt earlier setting in again. My head was still pounding in pain, but it was bearable. A hand appeared on the top of the blanket that attempted to pull it away. My heart pounding twice as hard than normal, I tried to kick in the direction of the unknown person, not before my ankle was grabbed. I shrieked in complete fear. "N-No!" I shook my leg as hard as I could. When the blanket was forcefully pulled away from me I stopped moving altogether, and sighed a shaky breath of relief when I finally realized who it was. Immediately my eyes began to water. Clenching my teeth I looked away, wiping at my eyes with my arm before the tears even started to fall. "D-Don't look at me. It's embarrassing," I breathed. "Lazark…"

 **He could sense my agony and apprehension just from one look at me, my aura exuding negative feelings.**

"Aerei…" Lazark crawled towards me on all fours. He knelt down in front of me as he pulled my arm away from my eyes giving me a pained look.

I hit my forehead against his chest, letting my arm fall back to my side. "I'm tired of being chained to my fear."

Resting a hand on the back of my head with an arm around my waist, he held me close to him without saying a word.

My tears fell silently as I felt and listened to his heartbeat. We stayed like that for countless minutes as the moonlight cast a shadow of our embracing form behind Lazark. Eventually we separated, my head hung low as I gripped onto the hem of his plain white shirt.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I've just been stuck and not sure where to go with this. Anyway, I'm surprised that there are followers and fav's on this story, thank you for the support.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

I turned away from him in embarrassment, staring out at the dark horizon where the tops of scattered evergreen trees peeked out behind my balcony. I didn't want to see the look on his face. Although I knew it would be such a miniscule proportion he would ever do this, basically non-existent, I was afraid he wouldn't understand, that he'd just brush it off. I felt a light touch graze my right shoulder near my neck. The feel of his hand just resting there, the gentle squeeze and warmth I felt, thinking back and knowing that there was always someone who cared for me; my parents, Kairen, Lazark, Karias, and even those other nobles who I had befriended, but never really got to know. But even then, my knowledge wasn't enough to lull these suffocating and raging emotions, because I knew how it felt to be almost completely isolated from those who were closest to me.

 _It's my own fault. Because I didn't try hard enough to be with them. Because I care about emotions. Because I care about being around those I care for. Because I thrive most around the company of others when this doesn't apply to the other nobles. Because I was always like this. Because, because…_

"Because I'm afraid to be alone…" I whispered ever so quietly to myself, not even realizing I had vocalized my thoughts.

His arms stretched out and wrapped around my body, pulling my back to his chest as he rested his head near my neck, his breathing slow and rhythmic. "It's okay to be afraid," Lazark said, brushing my hair away from the sides of my face gently with his fingers. "Even nobles have things that they are afraid of."

I closed my eyes at his words. "I was mostly alone for a time." I chuckled painfully. "Fifty years is absolutely nothing to a noble. But to me…" I began to struggle with my words though I fought to keep going on. "But to me," I exhaled with a shaky breath. "Alone. It was difficult." Bringing a hand up to my face, I laughed at myself, about how foolish my weakness was to the eyes of other nobles. "Everyone was always there, but they were always too busy for me. Even you."

He bent over slightly at this as he tightened his hold on me. "I'm sorry."

I leaned further back into his body raising my hand to hold his wrist. "Don't apologize." Raising my head to look back out at the sky I smiled to myself in bitterness. "This is my darkness. The darkness that I need to overcome but never forget," I voiced with assurance laced with unease. "No matter how foolish my darkness is."

Lazark moved away slightly, encouraging me to face him. He rested each hand on my shoulders. "Pain is pain," he expressed. "The cause is different for each person. But the fact that it hurts, that it causes pain, is undeniable." The look in his eyes was soft and understanding. It pulled our hearts together as two living beings on earth that survived, felt and experienced the struggles of this world. "No one wants to hurt. No one wants to feel pain, no matter how small or large. So don't say it's foolish."

With teary eyes I nodded at his speech, accepting it as I reached out for his embrace resting my forehead against the side of his neck. It was pleasant to feel another's arms around me during a time like this, reinforcing the that there were people who cared about me, and that I didn't have to be ignored and alone again.

Gently, he pat my back until my little hiccups and fits of tears ceased. Lazark pulled away to lie down while guiding me to lie on his chest. "Get some rest. I'll be here until you fall asleep."

"O-Okay," I stuttered quietly as I made myself comfortable on his chest with his arms wrapped around my waist. Over and over I told myself that I would be okay, that I would be strong enough to overcome my anxiety of being alone, along with the misery that was chained to my memories that I'd never forget, but would have to move on from.

Hours passed, the moon crossing to the other side of the starless sky. Though I was exhausted, cold, along with the shooting headache that came back stronger than ever due to my crying fits, I couldn't fall asleep.

"Can't sleep?"

"Mmm," I hummed as I twined a leg around his. "Thank you, for always helping me with my problems."

He ran his fingers through my hair lightly in response.

I thought for awhile, considering the fact that I might be taking up his time when he should be working on his family duties. "Shouldn't you be tending to your family?" Secretly, I hoped that he wouldn't leave me since I wasn't ready for him to leave my side yet.

"I'll stay with you," he said softly. "There shouldn't be much left for me to do since I finished quickly."

"Because you were worried about me?" I shifted my neck to look up at him, smiling at his reaction. A faint blush painting his pale cheeks with his gaze directed out the window, refusing to meet my eyes. "Cute," I giggled as I watched him close his eyes with a small sigh. Slowly I started to feel a little like myself again. "I'm going to go soak for a bit." Pushing myself off his chest, I wandered over to my dresser and pulled out a clean t-shirt, pants and underwear.

I headed over to the bathroom and sat on the edge of the tub and began drawing the bath. The steam from the heat of the water had engulfed the room in a hazy mist. I closed the door to the bathroom and undressed, not expecting Lazark to wait for me to finish. Pulling the tap closed I entered the bath and cleared my thoughts from the negatives and remembered what Lazark told me just earlier, along with Kairen's words. _I'm not alone. I'll just focus on the present now, as best I can_ , I wishfully thought. I placed my arms on the edge of the tub and leaned over them, feeling my chills subside and the pain in my head lessen. Time passed, though I wasn't sure how much time exactly. I finally left stepped out of the bath, pulling the plug to let the water drain. Water dripped and formed a puddle around me as I dried myself off and dressed. I left my hair wrapped in a towel since it took a while for the towel to absorb the excess water droplets and opened the door to see Lazark still in my room, sitting in my bed reading a book.

He closed the book, placing it away and looked up, gesturing for me to sit with him. "I'll help you dry your hair."

I sat with my back to him as he unwrapped the towel and rubbed the towel around my scalp gently, moving down towards the ends of my hair to squeeze the water out. "Thank you," I quietly mouthed. "For staying."

Lazark didn't say a word, but he took the towel away and reached out to squeeze my hand.

I turned to face him and smiled, thankful for him and the fact that he tried to understand my situation and somehow always had words to share whenever I was in distress.

"How are you feeling now?" He let go of my hand and tilted his head to the side in question, his golden locks falling over his left eye.

"Alot better. My head still hurts just a little, but I can manage."

The look in his eyes were filled with worry.

"I'll be okay, don't look at me with those eyes." I grinned at him for reassurance. "Thanks for helping me train earlier too."

Closing his eyes and furrowing his brow, he sighed. "Yes, but I hope you won't overwork yourself like that again."

"I'll try not to." I nodded in consideration.

Dawn had already touched the sky, indicating I had been in the bath for well over two hours. The room was illuminated in a faint orange-yellow glow, the sky painted with streaks of violets and pinks, mixed with the dark indigo hues of the receding night sky. I looked over to the wall clock as it chimed seven times. "When are you going back? It's already quite early in the morning." Before I even heard his reply, he had already pulled me to him in an embrace. Shocked by his actions I felt a small blush wash over my cheeks. I clutched at his shirt, burying my face in the crook of his neck, breathing in his scent that I adored.

"I'll be leaving soon."

I felt the vibration of his words through his throat and clung onto his shirt tighter as I was still hesitant for him to leave.

"But for now, I'll stay just a little longer," he whispered while resting his cheek against my damp hair. "You should get some rest. You hadn't properly slept all night. Let your body recover." Lazark pulled away, letting me lie against my pillows, pulling my sheets up to tuck me in.

"Mhmm," I hummed. Exhaustion was finally taking its toll on my body, from the training and restless sleeps and thoughts. Slowly, I nodded off, the last thing I remember seeing was Lazark leaning over me, and feeling a soft touch against my forehead just before I completely fell into the arms of slumber.

Only several hours had passed and I was awoken by the sounds of the birds chirping outside my balcony. Though I hadn't gotten much rest, I felt refreshed and better than before, still deciding to take it easy for a few more days. I grabbed a pillow and hugged it against my chest as I sleepily rubbed my eyes, blindly making my way to Kairen's room expecting him to be handling some kind of family responsibility. Placing my hand on the knob of the door to his room, I pushed the door open wondering if I was still dreaming. "What are you doing?" I dropped my pillow and stood at the entrance of his room, gaping in complete disbelief.

"This isn't what you think it is!" Kairen yelled in panic as he quickly got off of Estelle.

Kairen had been pinning Estelle down on his bed, his shirt was completely unbuttoned and falling off his shoulder. His belt thrown to the side of the bed, and his pants barely hanging at his hips with his cloak tossed messily onto the ground.

"What." I could barely formulate words in my mind. "Am… I even looking at?" At that moment, I wasn't infuriated. My mind was a blank slate as I continued to stare at the two of them.

"It's totally what you think it is." Estelle's voice was low and deep. "Now leave us be so we can continue from where we left off," she growled, yanking his shirt off as she pulled him into a deep kiss before he could even react.

I turned away mindlessly, closing the door behind me and grabbing my pillow, hearing Kairen's desperate voice in the background.

"WAIT! IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!"

I wandered off, my brain not processing what I had just seen. I stood in the foyer for several moments thoughtlessly hugging the pillow to my face.

"Aerei? What's wrong?"

I heard my father's voice and looked up. "Nothing. Though it seems…" I trailed off.

"Hmm?"

"Kairen will be having an heir soon." I stared blankly at the ground.

"An heir? What is the meaning of this? Kairen is not yet married."

I shrugged, still staring at the floor. "Perhaps he'll wed soon," I said as I glanced back up at father. He looked puzzled, but said nothing as he walked away in the direction towards our library. My thought process had finally began to move and comprehend the earlier display I had seen. _I thought Kairen didn't like her? Was he keeping it from me?_ I ground my teeth in anger realizing what Estelle had done. _That girl. I'm gonna beat her to a pulp. But wait. What if Kairen liked her all this time and was just keeping it to himself because I hate her?_ I shook my head, worried by my thoughts. _I really don't like her but I guess I should make an effort to respect his decision. What other reason would he have Estelle in his room, on his bed, while he was half undressed._ I groaned in annoyance, trying to shake away the images of what I had seen.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

"Like I said Aerei," Kairen said exasperatedly. "That wasn't what you thought it was."

I picked at my brunch, saying nothing as I stared at Kairen coldly. I did say that I would try to understand his decision, but the girl being that no-good girl was too much for me.

When he saw the look in my eyes, he just sighed and took a seat beside me, now dressed in more casual attire. Grey fitted dress pants with a plain white normal high collared dress shirt, and black, gold trimmed boots. "If you'll just let me explai-"

"I don't want to hear it," I muttered under my breath, taking my glare off of him and turning attention towards my half eaten meal.

"Then why do you look at me with cold eyes like that?"

Taking a couple spoonfuls of food into my mouth I said to myself, "But you were undressed and even kissed her." Hearing a loud sigh coming from Kairen's direction I spared him a small glance from the corner of my eyes.

"Aerei, just listen, okay?" He pleaded, trying to get me to understand his side of the story.

"About what? The fact that you were hiding that you actually like Estelle, but didn't tell me?" I puffed my cheeks and stood up with my head bowed.

"Is that what you're mad about? And-" he attempted to continue.

"Enough. It's okay, if you like her then you have my blessing!" I stomped out of the dining room while grumbling to myself. "Ugh, I don't wanna hear any of it. I already saw it with my own eyes." I headed out towards our courtyard to meditate in some quiet green space. Keeping my mind calm and clear from thoughts and listening to the environment around me might help me to momentarily forget why I was upset with Kairen and that blonde woman, not to mention it was also good to practice keeping focus and keeping calm in difficult situations which would help with my mantras.

Bright sunlight completely surrounded the open field, not a cloud in sight. It was on the borderline of unbearably scorching, save for the gentle cool breezes that would pass through every now and then. Today was a beautiful day, what with the blooming flowers in the garden that seemed even more lively than usual, that would dance among the breezes with the tall patches of grass, gently swaying side to side. Beams of light peaking through the shade even illuminated the normally dark forest before me.

I sat in the center of the courtyard with my knees bent, ready to meditate. The sound of the birds chirping and gentle gusts of winds tickled my sense of hearing. I quieted my thoughts more and focused on the peaceful landscape before me, feeling peace wash over me. I could sense Kairen's aura nearby, along with the auras of several other nobles. Though my senses were heightened with this focus on meditation, feeling Kairen's aura reminded me of this morning's display. _Tch. Oh well. I tried to relax._ My thoughts were once again filled with the drama of my life. _Would Kairen really like her though? They almost fought that one time._ I sighed as I leaned back on my hands and stared up at the seemingly endless azure sky. _I guess it's one of those relationships, where a person thinks they dislike a person but subconsciously they have a burning love for them,_ I thought. "He says he dislikes her due to her behaviour, but perhaps it is that. That deep down, a part of him desires her because he doesn't get on with her." Squeezing my eyes shut, I continued to muse. _Hmm, that cliche 'I hate you' followed by a kiss._ Just as I was about to turn around I felt hands on my shoulders.

"So, what's the latest development concerning you and Lazark?" Karias' voice chimed happily. "I'm dying to know."

I swatted his hands off my shoulders in response, moving away so I could face him.

"Have you guys slept toge-"

I glared at him as hard as I could before he could continue on.

He put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. Sorry," he chuckled.

"Pfft. As if you're sorry." Crossing my arms over my chest, I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just teasing."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. _What person living in Lukedonia disliked teasing me._

"Seeing the blooming relationship between the two of you has deeply touched my heart." Suddenly he presented a rose out of nowhere, handing it over to me. "A rose as a gift, wishing the two of you the best."

Sighing, I took the rose out of his hands and stared at it, spinning the stem between my fingers.

He raised an eyebrow at my reaction and moved to spread his legs out. "What's wrong with you?" Karias asked. "You'd have spouted some retorts or attempted to hit me by now? He hit his hand with his other hand like a hammer in realization. "Oh I see, you had a fallout with Lazark didn't you? Hmm, I can't really visualize the two of you arguing though," he said, resting his hand on his chin while looking up at the sky thoughtfully.

"That's completely wrong," I sighed. "You're here because of Kairen right? Well, he's in the dining room at the moment if you want to see him."

"Alright, thanks. I'll leave you to your thoughts then." Karias smiled as he stood up to walk towards the mansion. "Good luck with your fallout with Lazark. It'll be fine so don't worry!" he yelled as he sauntered away from me while waving his hand in goodbye.

"Like I said that's not it!" I yelled towards his back that gradually grew smaller the farther he walked away. Closing my eyes and breathing deeply, I attempted to calm my thoughts again since I felt the exhaustion of the previous day starting to set in again. My headache seemed to return slightly so I sprawled myself out on the grass, focusing on the warmth of the sun against my skin without all the complicated thoughts that I always seemed to be thinking about. Several more hours passed as I continued to lie on the grass in a mock sort-of rest. It was already mid afternoon and I had accomplished nothing for today, though I had no regrets since I knew once my body healed, I'd be back to the grind in no time since I already wasted enough time agonizing over my problems.

Without notice, a presence began to approach quite quickly. I sat up in immediate response, but sensed no hostile feelings. Out of the forest before me, a young male noble, about my age, appeared. He seemed to be in a rush, holding several envelopes. Upon closer examination, I realized he was one of the nobles that served my family. When he finally noticed me watching from afar, he made his way towards me. His short brown hair weaved and flowed through the wind. By the time he reached me, he was out of breath, a hand on his thigh as he panted to catch his breath, his other hand holding the envelopes. He sported traditional Lukedonia fashion, though in a much more unkempt style. His white shirt was unbuttoned slightly exposing his chest, his black cloak that was normally kept zipped up was completely open, and his black dress pants that were just a little too long pooled in creases around his ankles.

I stood up so I could meet his gaze evenly, remembering I had to act in a professional manner since I also represented the purebloods of my family.

When he finally caught his breath, he stood up straight, his soft but deep voice vibrating through the atmosphere around us. "Lady Aerei, I have this month's reports." He presented the envelopes to me with a small smile.

I nodded as I took the envelopes out of his hands, turning them over to see our family seal holding the flap closed. "Shouldn't you be delivering these to the family leader? Or mother or Kairen?"

"Ah yes. I apologize," he said sheepishly with a nervous smile. He rubbed the back of his neck in thought. "I would deliver them myself, but it seems a family issue has arisen while I was away."

"Ah. I understand." I smiled softly at his nervousness. "Thank you, I will deliver them. You are dismissed."

"Thank you for your understanding." He nodded curtly and bowed before leaving.

I watched him head towards the wing of the mansion that housed most of the other nobles in our family. I sighed before making my way towards the mansion. I couldn't sense mother or father nearby, so I knew meeting Kairen would be inevitable. Before I knew it, I was already standing in front of the door to his room. I knew there were no benefits by delaying the delivery of the reports, but I still stood in front of his door without knocking. My hand hovered in the air between the door and myself for several seconds until I heard a voice and jumped away violently.

"Kairen, not so hard!"

I heard Estelle's voice through the door unexpectedly. Furrowing my brow I raised my fist and clenched my jaw in annoyance. _I knew it! I totally knew they were together. That liar!_ I burst through the door in a flurry of negative emotions. "You liar! I knew you two were-" _Huh?_ I blinked several times and rubbed my eyes just to make sure what I was seeing was correct.

"Aerei?" Kairen looked over to me with a worried glance. "You sound like you want to punch someone." His hands were placed on Estelle's shoulders as he attempted to push her out of his room through the balcony.

"Wha-" I felt completely lost and confused. _So did I actually misunderstand him?_ I wondered.

He shook his head exasperatedly. "Estelle just leave, you've caused me enough trouble today." With a final push he shoved her out the balcony door and locked it before she could force her way back in. "So, where's that apology?" A typical smirk gracing his lips as he looked over to me while drawing his curtains shut so Estelle couldn't see inside.

"A-Apology?!" I stammered as a blush spread over my face.

"Yeah." Kairen turned to look at me, his hands on his hips. "You yelled at me and accused me of 'liking' Estelle, and didn't bother to even listen to my explanation."

My eyes widened in confusion. "B-But you were undressed. " Looking down I fidgeted nervously as my voice quieted. "And you kissed…"

I heard him sigh as I watched him place a hand over his eyes. "I was changing with my balcony door open for some air, then Estelle burst in without notice. She tried to undress me even more, and that was when I pinned her down to make her stop," he explained. "That's when you came in and she forced a kiss on me." Taking his hand off his eyes, he dropped his arms and watched me. "So, is my explanation sufficient enough?"

"Yeah…" I whispered. "That makes sense. I apologize for my mistake." I looked away in embarrassment, realizing I made a complete fool out of myself by accusing Kairen like that.

Kairen shifted over to his desk so he was leaning his back on the edge of it. "Was there a reason why you came to see me? Or did you just miss me?" he laughed playfully.

"Don't be stupid. W-Why would I miss you?!"

"Pfft. You were crying earlier about how you missed m-"

"Shut up! I only came to give you this! You blockhead!" I huffed in embarrassment, throwing the envelope in his direction.

"What's this?" He caught the envelope and flipped it over to see the wax seal on the back.

I turned around to face the doorway, ready to leave his room. "Monthly report."

"Ah. I'll check over this then."

I started to pace out of his room and down the hallway hearing his voice echo back.

"Where are you going?"

"To the Kertia family's mansion."


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Slowly, I walked through the thicker parts of the forest enjoying the silence and scenery around me. This path was rarely used at all, due to the fact it was never maintained. Hares quietly bounded up and down the unkempt grass in front of me, hopping over fallen logs and tiny flower bushes. Stray beams of light gently illuminated this part of the forest, bathing everything in a dim warm golden glow. Small mushrooms peaked out through the mounds of dirt near the base of large trees, almost as if they were petite umbrellas meant for ants and beetles. The moss covered rocks providing a sign of age and history in this silent forest where it seemed as if time was stopped.

Eventually, I came to a large clearing where the Kertia family home was located. I passed through the gates, watching several of their family nobles bow in my direction. Somehow it was always uncomfortable for me to be treated with this kind of respect. I made my way up the concrete steps, knocking on the giant oak doors before me. No more than a few seconds later the door opened. A much older noble stood before me dressed entirely in black gold-trimmed clothing, the wrinkles that graced his aged visage giving him the appearance of a kindly old man.

"Ahh, Lady Aerei. How nice of you to visit. What is your purpose for visiting the Kertia's today?"

I smiled in return. "Is the family leader present at this time?"

"I don't believe so, but you are welcome to wait if you wish."

I nodded quietly, making my way into the mansion and he stepped to the side and guided me to a waiting parlor.

"Well then, don't hesitate to call if you require anything at all." The old noble placed a cup of tea down onto the coffee table and bowed before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

I waited patiently, wanting to thank Lazark for earlier. The words he spoke, and empathy he showed that I so desperately needed.

The ticking of an old grandfather clock in the background and the scent of the Kertia family home also brought back a sense of nostalgia. Sipping at my tea, I heard the door open behind me. I hadn't bothered to check who it was, since his voice already chimed out loud and clear.

"Well well. It's rare for you to show your face over here."

I said nothing as I closed my eyes and focused on the flavour of the tea, which was bittersweet.

Rael plopped himself down onto the couch in front of me. "Ahh, is this how you're going to be?" A look of annoyance crossed over his face. "Hey now. Don't just ignore me," he said as he crossed his legs and arms, leaning back on the couch. "What brings you here today?"

"I'm only here to see Lazark."

"Ahh. My older brother hmm?" Rael leaned forward in interest. "Why's that?"

Setting my tea down on the table, I still refused to meet his gaze. "N-No particular reason."

"Well, you don't have to hide it from me you know. It's pretty obvious that you have feelings for him. Isn't that why you came to see him today?"

"H-How do you know that?!" I snapped, glaring straight at him.

He shrugged his shoulders arrogantly and laughed. "It's so obvious. That blush on your face, and last time when we came to visit Kairen." The look on his face suddenly changed. "But you know…" Rael rubbed his hair in thought. "Ahh nevermind."

"What is it?"

"You really wanna know?" All of a sudden, a smile played at his lips.

Hesitantly, I nodded wondering if this was good news or bad news.

"I don't think my brother actually likes you."

"What nonsense are you spewing! He took care of me, and helped me train," I retorted matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, but don't people do that just for the sake of kindness?" Waving his finger he clucked his tongue at the same time. "You're too naive."

"But he-" I stopped myself from saying anymore.

"Don't tell me you two have actually gone that far in your relationship."

I knew my face was completely red at this point. "What's it to you!"

"After all, my brother is just helping you out to maintain the relationship we have with you Skyel's."

An air of silence filled the room. I didn't believe anything he was saying for a moment. "Just stop talking already."

"Why? You don't believe me?"

"Why would I ever believe anything you say?!"

"He even gave me advice and…" I quieted my voice. "And he… He told me…"

Rael's derisive laughter filled the room. "Those are just honeyed words. Like I said. To maintain the relationship between the Kertia's and Skyel's."

"After all, why would he ever have interest in a weak girl like you?"

 _Weak?_

"You can't even use your mantras properly. You cry and whine. You complain and don't even behave like a noble, much less a pureblood noble." Rael continued on. "I heard you even cried just because you were alone. How weak could you be? You're not fit to be a noble at all." Shaking his head, he glanced at me with pity. "Why would my brother ever like you? You who has too many flaws."

 _Flaws?_

"You're just a game to him. A side toy. He could care less about you."

"Lazark isn't that kind of person! I know!" I argued back. I held up my demeanor, when in reality my world was spinning out of control. Panic was getting the better of me.

"You know what? You've know him only for the mere one hundred and eight years you've been alive." He smirked at my confidence that was beginning to shatter. "And I've known him for over five hundred years, and I've lived with him all my life. So tell me, who do you think knows him better?"

I bit my lip in frustration and anger. I knew it was true that Rael knew him much longer than I did, and that they were even related. It was impossible to deny that fact. So logically Rael would know more, much more about Lazark than I did.

"Trust me. I'm saving you from heartache here, and look," he pointed out towards the window. "He's already had someone else for a long time."

I followed his finger, and looked out the large window as my world cracked and broke for the second time.


End file.
